Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has made large-scale preparations for the tercentenary-year celebration of Sri Guru Granth Saheb to be held in Nanded Saheb, Maharashtra. The celebration would begin on October 27 with Takhta snan and would conclude on November 4 with nagar kirtan. More than 25 lakh devotees are expected to reach Nanded Saheb on this occasion from all over the world.
Nanded Saheb is among the five prominent Takhtas of Sikhs. The tenth Guru Shri Guru Gobind Singh had declared Sri Guru Granth Saheb the Sikh Guru 300 years ago at this place and he had left for his heavenly abode at this place. It is highly respected place for Sikhs world over.
RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan, Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat and Akhil Bharatiya Bauddhik Pramukh Shri Madhubhai Kulkarni at the recent Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha held in Vrindavan from March 14 to 16 had jointly called upon the delegates attending the meeting to ensure that the tercentenary-year celebration of Sri Guru Granth Saheb should not confine only to the Sikhs but should become the event of the whole country. They had also emphasised that the whole country should participate in this historic event to show the gratefulness to Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj.
A jagriti yatra is being conducted all over the country to celebrate this historic occasion. It is for the first time that such a yatra has been organised in the country by Sikhs. The Jagriti Yatra would reach in Nanded Saheb on October 30 after moving all over the country and several parts of the world also. Founded with the objective of propagating the teachings of Sri Guru Granth Saheb to the masses, the Sikh Sangat accorded grand receptions to the yatra in Delhi and other places. It created special platforms at eight places in Delhi including Narela, Gurmandi, Paharganj, Kashmiri Gate, Mandi House, Dilshad Garden, Bhajan Pura and Shakarpur to welcome the yatra, which reached Delhi on May 22. Langars were organised at various places. National convener of the yatra Sardar Parminder Singh Pasricha praised the preparations of the Sikh Sangat by coming to the Sangat'splatform in Narela.
The Sikh Sangat activists are now engaged in making the concluding ceremony a grand success. National vice president of the Sangat Sardar Gurukirat Singh Butaliya has been appointed national convener of the organising committee and Sardar Devender Singh who is also state president of Andhra Pradesh unit, is incharge of the langar unit. The Sangat will organise a langar outside the Nanded Saheb from October 25 to November 6 where there will be arrangements of meals for 30-40,000 people everyday. The meals would be available round the clock.
According to Shri Avinash Jaiswal, national general secretary of the Sangat, Nanded unit of the organisation is contacting 5100 families of the city to persuade them to allow the stay of pilgrims with them during the concluding ceremony. ?Arrangements are also being made for those who would come without prior information and for short duration. The Sangat activists would look after their valuable articles at a specially created room called Gatharighar,? Shri Jaiswal added. He pointed out that a three-day Sammelan would be organised at Govind Sadan of noted Sikh saint Baba Birsa Singh in Delhi from October 24 to 26. More than 20,000 saints belonging to various communities and the heirs of the great saints whose words have been accommodated in Sri Guru Granth Saheb would participate in the Sammelan.
A Shri Hazur Saheb Jattha Committee has been constituted which is motivating people in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana to go to Nanded Saheb for kar seva. It would also collect ten truck-load of foodgrains for the langar from these states. Mass awareness campaigns will also be organised from all the places linked with the saints whose words have been mentioned in Sri Guru Granth Saheb. Beginning from different places these yatras would reach Nanded Saheb on October 26. Preparations for nine such yatras have been made so far.
According to Shri Jaiswal the preparations for the historic event had begun in 2005 with organising training camps of activists by the Sangat. A camp was organised in Pune on July 17, 2005 for the workers of 19 Kendras. A similar camp was organised in Jaipur in September the same year. A national training camp was organised at Ujjain in December 2005.
