By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired the meeting of the High Level Committee to commemorate 400th Birth Anniversary (Prakash Purab) of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. The meeting was organised via video conferencing. The meeting was attended by Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh; Union Home Minister Amit Shah; Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla; Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh; Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, MallikarjunKharge; Haryana CM Manohar Lal; Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh; Rajasthan CM Shri Ashok Gehlot; President, Shiromani GurudwaraParbandhak Committee, Amritsar, Bibi Jagir Kaur; MPs Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa; Former MP Tarlochan Singh; MD Amul R S Sodhi; Eminent Scholar Amarjit Singh Grewal, among others.
The participants of the meeting thanked the Prime Minister for the grand vision to commemorate the 400th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. They recalled the various contributions and sacrifice for religious freedom by Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. The participants gave inputs and suggestions for the commemoration, and noted that it is important to highlight the various facets of his life. Union Home Minister said that collective efforts should be made to ensure that the message of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji reaches out to all. Culture Secretary gave a presentation on suggestions outlined till now for the commemoration.
Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister thanked the participants for their suggestions. He said that the occasion of the 400th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji is a spiritual privilege as well as a national duty. He shared teaching and lessons learnt from the life of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, adding that we all derive inspiration from him. He highlighted that it is important to make the younger generation understand these lessons and noted that through digital means, it is easier to reach out to the younger generation worldover to spread the message.
Prime Minister said that the Sikh Guru tradition is a complete life philosophy in itself. It is the privilege and good fortune of the government that it has got the opportunity to celebrate the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the 400th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and the 350th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
Elaborating on the discussions in the meeting, the Prime Minister said that to connect more and more people to commemorate the 400th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, various activities will be organized throughout the year. He said that the organisation of activities should be such that not only the life and teachings of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, but of the entire Guru Tradition is propagated worldover. Hailing the social service done by Sikh community and Gurudwaras all over the world, the Prime Minister said that proper research and documentation on this aspect of the Sikh tradition should be done.
