Secretary Antony J. Blinken at a Diwali Reception

DEPUTY SECRETARY VERMA: Okay, wow, quite a crowd. Good afternoon, everybody.

AUDIENCE: Good afternoon.

DEPUTY SECRETARY VERMA: And Happy Diwali, Happy Diwali to everyone. This is an incredible gathering. We are so delighted to welcome all of you here, from our State Department employees that are here, members of our diaspora groups, and so many friends and colleagues, and it's amazing to see everyone here. And everyone looks pretty good too, so that's great.

For those of us who observe Diwali, this festival is so much more than just a holiday. It is a integral part of our identities, a powerful tradition that carries deep personal meaning and unites families and friends over shared memories, shared experiences, and shared emotions. For myself, I can remember my own family - my mother and father - telling me about their experiences of celebrating Diwali in Punjab, in Jalandhar, and the lights and the great sweets and the community that came together. I'm reminded of my own family's upbringing in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where we also celebrated Diwali, enjoying traditional customs in this small town that welcomed us with sweets and colors and so much more. People have said there's Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and you had the "Jalebis of Johnstown."

So - (laughter) - I am also reminded of all the Diwali celebrations our mission in India organized each year when I served as ambassador in India, from New Delhi to Mumbai to Kolkata to Chennai to Hyderabad. Every Diwali was unique, not just for the beautiful diyas and rangolis and marigold adornments but also, again, for the incredible sense of community and togetherness that the festival fostered. And it's in this spirit that we also think about observing communities in so many other countries as well - Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. So we're celebrating this Diwali with great splendor, bringing so many different communities together with this irresistible aroma of sweets and savories that fills the air.

There are so many other manifestations of Diwali, but I am - I want to make sure we introduce the Secretary of State here so that he can share a few words. So I just want you to know how lucky we are to have this leader of the department at this particular time. And let me just say from personal experience I know this is someone who knows what it's like to celebrate great South Asian customs and traditions with big events and music and sweets.

When I was serving as ambassador and the deputy - then-deputy secretary of state was coming to visit, it was a big deal. We went to the airport to pick him up. It was early in the evening and I said, "We're taking you to your first meeting." He said, "Great." He said, "Where is the first meeting?" And I said, "We are taking you to an Indian wedding." (Laughter.) He said, "That's interesting. Why would you take me to an Indian wedding?" I said, "Well, one of the people you wanted to meet was the finance minister. Turns out his daughter is getting married this evening, and he asked that you come to the wedding."

And so we show up to the wedding. We come up. There are literally thousands of people there. There's a lot of lights, there's a lot of sweets, there's a lot of festivities. We go up on stage. We greet the bride and groom. Of course, neither of us had ever met the bride and groom before. (Laughter.) And there is the finance minister, who pulls the deputy secretary of state to the side, and they hold a 10-minute bilat on the stage - (laughter) - adjacent to the wedding celebration. So this is someone who knows how to celebrate at the appropriate time. That's the kind of leader he is - inclusive, empathetic, and determined.

And it now gives me great pleasure to introduce my boss and our nation's top diplomat, Secretary Blinken. (Applause.)

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, thank you. Good evening. (Applause.) Good evening and welcome to the State Department. Look, first of all, following Rich Verma at a Diwali celebration is a little bit like coming onstage after Taylor Swift. (Laughter.) So I know what I'm getting into.

And I have the most powerful memories of what Rich just described of going to that wedding. I came home and I described the whole scene and wedding to my wife, and she said to me, "I want a do-over." (Laughter.) But it was an extraordinary occasion in so many ways, but it also captured the extraordinary warmth, the sense of family, the sense of community that is also so inherent to this remarkable celebration.

But to my friend and colleague the deputy secretary, Under Secretary Zeya who is here with us, Assistant Secretary Lu, the entire team at our Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, the South Asian American Employee Association: Thank you, thank you, thank you for organizing this wonderful celebration. And indeed, the various senses are now really being implicated in this, and I'm anxious to finish this and get to that. (Laughter.)

But to all our guests - from across the federal government, Congress, the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Kwatra who is here, civil society, the private sector: Welcome.

And to Georgetown University's Studio Rangila, the musical group - we're looking very much forward to hearing from you.

So it was 10 years ago that Secretary John Kerry hosted the first Diwali reception here at the State Department. A decade later, here we are. This annual gathering has become really a time-honored tradition and one that I'm very proud and pleased to continue.

This year, more than 1 billion Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs around the world are celebrating Diwali, decorating homes in the vibrant patterns of rangoli, hanging garlands of flowers, lighting diyas. And with Diwali falling on October 31st this year - (laughter) - I understand that there's some people in the United States who've even been throwing "Diwalloween" parties. (Laughter.) And if time permits, we'll get to one of those. (Laughter.)

Now, you know this better than I do, but Diwali holds different meanings and practices for different communities. But the Bengali poet Tagore perhaps captured the spirit of the holiday best when he wrote, and I quote, that "faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."

At its core, Diwali is about the idea that light will push back against darkness, that compassion, curiosity can overcome ignorance, that each of us has an obligation to care for the other. I can't think of a more powerful lesson to take to heart in this time for our world than that.

It's also a reminder of the many ways South Asian culture - and Americans of South Asian descent - have enriched our nation, from the novels of Jhumpa Lahiri to the fashion designs of Prabal Gurung.

The United States derives so much strength from this diversity, including truly remarkable public servants - I can think of one offhand - the Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris, World Bank President Ajay Banga, our very own Deputy Secretary of State Rich Verma.

So as you, as we, celebrate Diwali, may we continue to reach for that light when the dawn is dark, may we keep working to shape a world a little bit more peaceful, a little bit more prosperous, and do it together.

Thank you and Happy Diwali. (Applause.)

DEPUTY SECRETARY VERMA: So thank you, thank you so much, Secretary Blinken. As you mentioned, it's inspiring to see Diwali and other South Asian holidays become part of our State Department culture. And a significant reason for that is the amazing work by the South Asian American Employee Association sharing our culture and traditions with the wider department. And so thank you to everyone who helped organize this - Shireen Singh and so many others from my office and the employee association. We're really, really grateful.

But now we are very fortunate to hear the musical stylings of Georgetown University's Studio Rangila. We are so excited and grateful that you would be here to perform for us. They are enormously talented. And so without further ado, Studio Rangila.

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