Entrepreneur Vishal Gondal said he celebrated Diwali with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday, Nov. 6, and prayed for friendship between India and the United States; the White House schedule listed the event as closed to the press.
The schedule set the gathering for 1:30 p.m. EST. Gondal wrote on X that he gave Trump a copy of the Hanuman Chalisa and prayed for friendship between India and the United States. He described the occasion as “A moment of shared light in the Oval Office.”
A Press Trust of India report carried by NDTV identified India's ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, as a guest.
A Nov. 25, 2003, letter to President George W. Bush thanked him for authorizing a White House Diwali event on Oct. 23 in the Indian Treaty Room. The letter said Karl Rove represented Bush. Former President Barack Obama said in an archived White House post that he was the first president to light a diya at the White House, in 2009.
