US President-elect Joe Biden last night tweeted Diwali greetings as millions celebrated the festival of lights across the world. His post comes a week after Donald Trump lost the bid for a second straight term in the bitterly fought race to the White House that kept the world on the edge for nearly a week.
"To the millions of Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists celebrating the Festival of Lights, @DrBiden and I send our best wishes for a #HappyDiwali. May your new year be filled with hope, happiness, and prosperity. Sal Mubarak (sic)," Joe Biden wrote on Twitter. The 77-year-old is set to become the oldest president in the history of the country.
Kamala Harris, who is the vice-president elect, has also made history by becoming the first woman, the first Black person and the first Indian-American to hold the office.
She also tweeted Diwali greetings last night. "Happy Diwali and Sal Mubarak! @DouglasEmhoff and I wish everyone celebrating around the world a safe, healthy, and joyous new year," she wrote.
Last week, in an emotional victory speech, she remembered her mother, who was from India. "I'm grateful to the woman most responsible for my presence here today, my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn't imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in America where moment like this is possible," Kamala Harris said in her first address to the nation as Vice President-Elect.
"I am thinking about her and generations of women, black women, Asian, White, Latina, Native American women who throughout our nation's history have paved the way for this moment tonight," the 57-year-old said to loud cheering at an outdoor rally in Joe Biden's home city of Wilmington, Delaware, stressing that "I may be the first woman in the office, but I won't be the last."
Even as Donald Trump refuses to concede the election, Joe Biden has begun the process of transition to the White House. Coronavirus and economic revival have been listed as his top priorities.
On Friday, Trump came closes to admitting defeat. During a short speech about the vaccine work, Trump insisted that he would never again call for a lockdown to curb the virus' spread.
Then he added: "Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell."
(With inputs from AFP)
