Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Hosts a Diwali Celebration at Gracie Mansion and Announces Waris Ahluwalia Day

October 19, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Ladies and gentleman, everyone around here [inaudible] Diwali. And it’s amazing if you look at – if you look at all of the people who work here in Gracie Mansion producing these wonderful gatherings, these wonderful events, they are all dressed for this occasion, and they went out of their way to create an environment here that literally invokes this beautiful holiday. So, for all of you who have been to different events at Gracie Mansion, for some reason people that seem very proud of, Diwali has brought out the most artistic, beautiful work by our team here.

[Applause]

And you heard from the love of my life, and I want to tell you that whenever I think about the joy of – it’s now been 25 years since I met Chirlane

[Cheers]

– And the joy of this journey with her, the one thing that has really been a constant is Chirlane has a love for all the people that make up this great city. And she loves like I do to learn about traditions that are so rich and so deep, and to take in the glory of what it is to have a city where every community of the Earth is represented.

[Applause]

We are so proud of that. We are so proud that Chirlane, as our First Lady, is reaching out to every community to help uplift them and help the families of every community in the city. Let’s thank Chirlane for all she does.

[Applause]

Now, it has been a number of years since there was a Diwali ceremony and celebration in Grace Mansion, and we thought it was time to bring Diwali back to Gracie mansion.

[Applause]

Because this place – Grace Mansion, yes, it is the people’s house, it is the representation of all of New York City. It’s a home for all New Yorkers, and we can’t have the embodiment of this great city and not have this opportunity to celebrate this great holiday, and we want everyone to experience it together.

[Applause]

Now, let me tell you, I want to wish everyone – so, I sometimes get to represent in terms of my statements what all 8.5 million New Yorkers feel in common, and this is something I think we can all agree on.

Happy Diwali to everyone!

[Applause]

Now, I also want to wish – I want to wish a special greeting to my Sikh brothers and sisters.

[Applause]

Let’s see if I get this right – Bandi Chhor Divas!

[Applause]

And we thank – say again? Tell me, help me - say it again?

Audience: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Bandi Chhor Diwali?

Audience: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Now there’s differences here!

[Laughter]

Some people are saying Divas! Some people are saying Diwali! You get the idea.

Now, we have wonderful members of our administration who are here. I want you to – one of the things I’m really happy to do when we gather is thank these wonderful public servants. And I tell you some of the members of the administration are here, some of the elected officials are here, some members of the diplomatic corps. I’m going to name them. You can clap for all of them. First of all, she really deserves tremendous credit. You saw her speak a moment ago. We have so much to thank in terms of our IDNYC and so much other great work. Let’s thank Nisha Agarwal.

[Applause]

And Meera Joshi, our Taxi and Limousine Commissioner; our Small Business Commissioner Greg Bishop; our OATH Commissioner Fidel Del Valle; Human Rights Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis; Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence Cecile Noel; our Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan; our – the woman who makes all these wonderful events happen with her fabulous staff, our Director for Special Events Carla Matero; our Director of Environmental Remediation Daniel Walsh. And then we have elected officials who join us – New York State Senator Roxanne Persaud and Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman and Assemblymember David Weprin, and we have members of the diplomatic corps from – of course – India. We say thank you. And welcome and from the Republic of Singapore, let’s welcome them.

[Applause]

Now, Diwali is such a positive holiday, and what I love – I love the celebration of the triumph of good over evil. And I love the celebration of the merging of something – all of humanity looks at the night time and nighttime is part of our lives, but there’s a certain trepidation that goes with the nighttime, and Diwali represents the burst of light illuminating all, celebrating all, protecting all. It’s such a beautiful holiday. Now we want all New Yorkers and particularly the young people of New York City to understand Diwali better, so now in our Department of Education we have offered to all teachers this guide so they can all teach Diwali.

[Applause]

I’m going to tell them to come up with a more interesting title because the title is “Learning About Diwali.” I know they can come up with something more creative.

[Laughter]

But let me tell you, we are so honored to know that our school system will be teaching the meaning of this holiday and helping people from all walks of life to understand each other and to feel more unified.

[Cheers]

Here’s what we also feel very strongly in this city. We believe when any community – when any community’s attacked or when any individual is attacked because of who they are, because of their faith, because of where they come from – an attack on one is an attack on all of us. And that is something we believe deeply, and you will see whenever any community is affronted the NYPD will be present to protect that community and whenever there’s a hate crime we are very adamant. When we know something’s a hate crime we will call it a hate crime, and we will act on it as a hate crime to protect people and say it is unacceptable in the City of New York to act in any biased fashion against any of the great people that make up this city.

[Applause]

Now we have a special opportunity this evening because when we have these wonderful gatherings we also get to honor someone, and we are honoring someone very special this evening – Waris Ahluwalia.

[Applause]

Waris, come forward please!

I have to tell you that Waris has something in common with another very intelligent and very successful, handsome young man. He and Dante de Blasio both went to Brooklyn Tech.

[Applause]

So, Waris does it all. He is a fashion designer. He is a writer. He is an actor – of course he’s a model, too. And he has an unmistakably New York style, and, as a Sikh, he proudly wears his dastar wherever he goes. And so he sends a powerful message to our city, to our country – countering ignorance, celebrating inclusion, and advocating for religious understanding and tolerance in everything that he does. And we want to celebrate him.

[Applause]

I just wrote this now. This – there’s a lot of very, very poetic wording here telling us how great Waris here is – and I’m going to ask you to hold this – but the important part of the last few lines, and here’s what the last few lines say.

It is my honor as the Mayor of New York City to proclaim Wednesday, October 19th 2016, in the City of New York as Waris Ahluwalia Day.

[Applause]

I want to thank the member of the audience who suggested Waris smile. That was very helpful.

[Laughter]

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome Waris.