Biden hosts Diwali celebration at White House

Washington: US President Joe Biden celebrated Diwali on Monday at the White House in an event attended by more than 600 eminent Indian Americans. “As President, I have been honoured to host the biggest Diwali receptions ever at the White House. To me, it means a great deal. As Senator, Vice President, and President, South Asian Americans have been key members of my staff," said the US president while addressing Indian American congressmen, officials, and corporate executives, from across the country. “From Kamala to Dr Murthy to so many of you here today, I'm proud that I kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America,” Joe Biden added.

Biden’s address was preceded by an introduction by Indian American youth activist Shrusti Amula as well as speeches by vice admiral Vivek H Murthy, US surgeon general; Sunita Williams, the retired navy officer and NASA Astronaut who sent a recorded video message from the International Space Station. However, Vice president Kamala Harris and first lady Dr Jill Biden were absent from the event due to obligations on the campaign trail. Remembering the first Diwali celebration hosted at the White House in 2016, Biden remarked that a “dark cloud formed from hate and hostility toward immigrants, including South Asian Americans” had once again appeared in 2024, just as it had then.

“An Irish Catholic President, Vice President at the time, opened our home for holiday celebrations by Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, Sikhs, and more. How America reminds us all of our power to be the light, all of us,” he said.

Biden lit the formal diya in the Blue Room of the White House and used the opportunity to thank the South Asian American community for its role in American democracy. “On this day in America, we think about that journey of light. Early in our nation’s founding, a generation before diya, in the shadow of suspicion, now in a time Diwali is celebrated openly and proudly here in the White House,” he said.