Diwali illuminates India

New Delhi: Fireworks illuminated the evening sky, earthen lamps dotted houses and lights decked up buildings as people exchanged sweets and gifts on the occasion of Diwali.
People burst crackers, lit fireworks and visited their kith and kin, exchanging festive greetings and sweets.
President Pranab Mukherjee greeted the countrymen and hoped that the festival of light “dispels the darkness of ignorance and illuminates peoples’ lives with hope and prosperity”. Greeting people on the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated this year’s Diwali to the armed forces, saying Rs 5,500 crore has been paid for implementing the OROP scheme, “fulfilling the promise” he made to them. This was the third successive year that the Prime Minister spent Diwali with the troops.
In the national capital, people decorated their homes and shops with colourful ‘rangolis’ and flowers and lit diyas. At Antehri in Kurukshetra, the native village of Mandeep Singh, who was killed by terrorists in Machil sector of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, villagers decided not to celebrate Diwali as a mark of respect to his sacrifice. However, each household lit a ‘diya’ in his memory.
In Jammu, people were seen exchanging sweets and bursting crackers.