US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hosted Diwali celebrations at the White House, lighting a traditional oil lamp and extending greetings to the people of India and Indian-Americans.
During the event, Trump struggled while pronouncing the names of several Indian-American leaders, drawing light-hearted reaction from those present.
Initially, Trump struggled to pronounce the word Diwali, however, he later said it correctly. The US President acknowledged Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon before turning to Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra, whom he mistakenly called “Vinay Kwatruth.”
Realising the slip soon after, he chuckled and said, “Oh, I wasn’t too far on that.”
Trump also congratulated US ambassador-designate Sergio Gor, pronouncing his name correctly. "It's a great honour to have you as a new ambassador to India. This is a nice, easy name. Sergio Gor. Congratulations, Sergio. You're going to do a fantastic job," he said.
He also mispronounced the names of several Indian-American business leaders, including Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
At the event, Trump also said India and US share a "very good relationship". He also reiterated his claim that India will not be buying "too much" oil from Russia.
"I just spoke to your prime minister today. We had a great conversation. We talked about trade. We talked about a lot of things, but mostly the world of trade. He's very interested in that," he said, addressing the Indian-American community members gathered for the festivities.
Describing Modi as "a great person", Trump said he has become "a great friend of mine over the years".
The president said he had also discussed India-Pakistan relations with the prime minister.
"We did talk a little while ago about let's have no wars with Pakistan. The fact that trade was involved, I was able to talk about that. And we have no war with Pakistan and India. That was a very, very good thing," he said.
Trump has been repeating his claim dozens of times that he “helped settle” the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan. India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan in May was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
(With agency inputs)
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