Washington, US President Donald Trump celebrated Diwali at the Oval Office in the presence of prominent Indian-American members of his administration, entrepreneurs and top CEOs, including Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology.
The celebrations began with President Trump lighting a diya in the Oval Office during an intimate gathering that included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Commissioner of Social Security Administration Arjun Mody. Among those present were Ruby Dhalla, President and CEO of Dhalla Group of Companies, Rajiv Sharma, founder and CEO of Knack Systems, Viswajith Mallampati, President, Keshavam DC, and Hetalkumar Patel, a guest of the President. The tradition of having a Diwali celebration was started by President George W Bush in 2003. In 2009, President Barack Obama became the first president to light a diya at the White House, during a ceremony in the East Room.
“A moment of shared light in the Oval Office,” Gondal, the founder and CEO of GOQii Technologies, said in a post on X. “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,” he said. Gondal, sharing photographs of the celebrations, said as the diyas were lit, his prayer was for friendship between India and the US, and for the triumph of light over darkness.
