Diwali celebrated at US State Department

Speaking on the occasion, Kerry said: "So as we celebrate Diwali this evening, we also hail the accomplishments of the many hundreds of thousands of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain Americans who live now all across our country in every community. And we honor their faith and their traditions, and the indispensable contributions that they make every single day to our prosperity, to our freedom, and to our culture – to this new chapter of American history that they are helping to write."

"And today, the South Asian diaspora is a pillar of every aspect of American society. South Asians sit in the executive suites of some of our country’s most successful companies, or at the very helm of all of them. They launch startups and earn graduate degrees at several times the national average. They are a driving force behind American leadership and science and innovation, and in the history of our nation – and we are a nation of immigrants – it is hard to find any group of Americans who have achieved more in such a relatively short period of time," he said.

"Now, as everybody here knows better than anybody in the world, India is, of course, a country of enormous energy and power," he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US last month and met President Barack Obama.

"It is by far the largest nation in South Asia, and last month during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States, we had an unforgettable chance both to build on the already deep ties between America and India, and many of you were here when Vice President Biden and I welcomed the prime minister right here to this very stage," Kerry said.

"The prime minister’s visit was a moment when Indians and Americans could get a real sense of what our two nations are able to accomplish together by working together, by fighting against terrorism, by creating opportunity for our young people, by combating climate change, to achieving greater progress by pushing back the boundaries of science and technology. And we are determined to build on that moment that was so well defined here in the prime minister’s words and in the Vice President’s words, so that the world’s oldest and largest democracies can realize the truly extraordinary, boundless potential of our relationship," he said.

"And tonight, thanks to the good efforts of Shaun Casey, who I did bring in here to create the first ever Interfaith Office within the State Department, we are now appropriately celebrating Diwali too. (Applause.) It’s important to note that these special celebrations are celebrated in communities all across America and in India and in other countries. And it’s an indication of how our mutual commitment to religious tolerance and pluralism helps to define and to strengthen our two democracies," Kerry said.

Kerry said: "Tonight, as we come together in the spirit of the Diwali festival, we need to, all of us, think about how to reaffirm our shared commitment to the light. And this is particularly a moment as we look at the events around the world where that commitment could serve all humankind."

This was the first time the State Department celebrated Diwali.