(L) Barack Obama lights a diya in the Oval Office in 2016.
(R) Donald Trump lights a diya in the Oval Office in 2025.
The Bush years Diwali was first celebrated in the White House complex in 2003, during president George W Bush’s tenure.
In 2016, his last year in office, Obama lit the first-ever diya in the Oval Office and expressed hope that future presidents would continue the practice.
Also read: Trump celebrates Diwali at White House, Indian entrepreneur gifts him copy of Hanuman ChalisaHe also said he was “grateful to have numerous Americans of Indian and Southeast Asian heritage who fulfill critical roles” in his administration.
US President Donald Trump marked Diwali in the Oval Office on Friday, two days before the festival, continuing a White House observance that began in 2003 and has lasted as the political weight of the Indian diaspora in the US has grown. (L) Barack Obama lights a diya in the Oval Office in 2016. (R) Donald Trump lights a diya in the Oval Office in 2025. (POTUS 44 via Facebook/White House)
India’s ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, was among those present, PTI reported. Trump also marked the festival in the Oval Office last year, on October 21, with senior officials including FBI director Kash Patel and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The Bush years Diwali was first celebrated in the White House complex in 2003, during president George W Bush’s tenure. Karl Rove, then Bush’s senior adviser, led the celebrations that year in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which stands beside the White House and is part of its complex.
Rove lit a brass lamp and conveyed Bush’s personal greetings to the Indian-American community at the event, HT had earlier reported.
Also read: ‘Dil se Diwali’: From senators to mayors, US leaders join Diwali bash in six states and over 20 cities
Bush never attended the celebrations himself, and most ceremonies during his tenure were held in the Eisenhower building, PTI reported.
The Obama years Barack Obama became the first US president to personally take part in the ceremony. On October 14, 2009, after signing an executive order on issues facing Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, he lit a diya in the East Room.
In a 2011 statement, Obama said he was “proud to be the first President to mark Diwali and light the diya at the White House, and last year, Michelle and I were honored to join in Diwali celebrations during our visit to India.” He was referring to his first visit to India as president, in November 2010, when he and first lady Michelle Obama joined schoolchildren in Mumbai for a Diwali celebration.
In 2016, his last year in office, Obama lit the first-ever diya in the Oval Office and expressed hope that future presidents would continue the practice.
“This year, I was honored to kindle the first-ever diya in the Oval Office - a lamp that symbolizes how darkness will always be overcome by light. It is a tradition that I hope future Presidents will continue,” Obama said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Trump and Biden Trump continued the tradition in 2017 by lighting a diya in the Oval Office with his daughter Ivanka, then an adviser to the president, and Indian-American officials from his administration, including Nikki Haley, then ambassador to the UN, and Seema Verma, who ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“Our nation is blessed to be home to millions of hardworking citizens of Indian and Southeast Asian heritage who enrich our country in countless ways. Together, we are one proud American family,” Trump said at the 2018 ceremony in the Roosevelt Room.
Also read: Trump celebrates Diwali at White House, Indian entrepreneur gifts him copy of Hanuman Chalisa
He also said he was “grateful to have numerous Americans of Indian and Southeast Asian heritage who fulfill critical roles” in his administration. “And they’ve done an incredible job.”
