As part of the ongoing countrywide celebrations to commemorate the 400th Parkash Purab of Hind-Di-Chaddar Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Wednesday launched a devotional song. The song has been composed by the Department of Information and Public Relations for a state-level function set to take place in Panipat on April 24. Addressing a press conference, Khattar said, “Since March 2021, as part of the celebrations of the 400th Prakash Purab of Hind Di Chadar Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji various religious and cultural programmes have already been started in some parts of the country. However, due to the pandemic, most of the programmes in Haryana got postponed. Now the state government has decided to organise a state-level function on April 24, 2022. Adequate arrangements are being made for the said celebrations. Event Management Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sandeep Singh for smooth organisation of this state-level programme”. “In this one-day programme devotees from across Haryana, Punjab and other states like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are expected to participate in large numbers. Haryana shares a special bond, not just with Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji but with all the ten Sikh Gurus as most of them have travelled to almost every corner of the state. In the year 2017, the Haryana government had organised several religious and cultural programmes to commemorate the 350th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji which had begun in Karnal and concluded in Yamunanagar. Later, in the year 2019, celebrations of the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji were also organised in Sirsa. Today, it becomes our utmost duty to inculcate the teachings, ideologies and philosophy of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and other religious gurus and sants in society, especially among youth so that they can get inspiration from their lives. Apart from the government, social and religious institutions also play a pivotal role in culturally shaping the society”. “It is because of the supreme sacrifices of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji that he has been crowned as the sobriquet of ‘Hind Di Chadar’. Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji not only protected the Hindus from forced conversions but also greatly helped the Kashmiri Pandits, who were living under life-threatening pressure from Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb,” Khattar said.
