Washington: US President Donald Trump lit a diya in the Oval Office on Friday and hosted a Diwali gathering of Indian-American officials, chief executives and entrepreneurs, continuing a White House tradition that began under George W. Bush in 2003.
India's Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra, FBI Director Kash Patel, IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna, Micron Technology chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, chef Vikas Khanna and entrepreneur Vishal Gondal were among those present, along with former Canadian MP Ruby Dhalla, Knack Systems founder Rajiv Sharma, Keshavam DC president Viswajith Mallampati, Hetalkumar Patel and White House events usher Arvind Chadha.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Arjun Mody were in the room when Trump lit the lamp, in what officials described as an intimate gathering in the president's executive office.
https://x.com/vishalgondal/status/2118801399714869490
Gondal, founder and chief executive of health-tech firm GOQii, presented Trump with a copy of the Hanuman Chalisa and posted photographs of the ceremony. "A moment of shared light in the Oval Office," he wrote. "Honoured to celebrate Diwali with President @realDonaldTrump and proud to gift him with a copy of the Hanuman Chalisa, Tulsidas's hymn to Lord Hanuman that millions of us recite for courage, devotion and strength."
The diya-lighting, he said, carried a prayer for the India-US relationship. "As the diyas were lit, my prayer was for friendship between India and America, and for the triumph of light over darkness," Gondal wrote, signing off with the traditional blessing "Jug Jug Jiyo."
The celebration came two days before Diwali is observed in India on Sunday. Diwali at the White House began as a community event held mostly at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the presence of Indian-American groups and Indian diplomats. Barack Obama became the first US president to light a diya at the White House in 2009, at a ceremony in the East Room, and the lamp-lighting has since moved between the Oval Office, the Roosevelt Room and other rooms of the building.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)
Pioneer News Service