OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrated the Hindu festival of lights Diwali with the Indian community in Ottawa on Monday.
Attired in a black Sherwani, Trudeau lit the ceremonial lamp and wished the Indian Diaspora a happy Diwali.
Indian High Commissioner to Canada Vikas Swarup was also present on the occasion.
“Diwali Mubarak! We're celebrating in Ottawa tonight. #HappyDiwali!,” Trudeau tweeted.
The light-hearted gesture by the Canadian PM got twitterati trolling him for using the word 'mubarak' instead of 'shubh' or 'Happy'. What followed was a thread of tweets from people arguing about the origin of words like 'Hindu' and 'Mubarak' and whether they are Arabic or Urdu.
However, there were some people who appreciated the gesture and wished Trudeau, cutting some slack for him.
Last month, Canada Post and India Post had jointly issued two stamps to celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights.
Known for embracing cultural and religious diversity, Prime Minister Trudeau had also recently celebrated and greeted the Muslim population in his country on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr in June this year.
(With inputs from ANI)