Pravasi Bharatiya
FOR the first time in history, thousands of Hindus gathered in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. This was an unbelievable sight to the people in Colombo as the Hindus had never ever gathered like this. This was the first time Hindus came with a united concept and proved their unity and strength.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh decided to celebrate Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary in Sri Lanka and formed committees among the villages, urban councils, municipal councils, district and island levels.
The inauguration function was held on February 26, 2012. Consequently 140 conferences were held all over Sri Lanka. More than 7,000 committee members from various parts of the country helped to organise these programmes very successfully. Nearly 500,000 Hindus came into contact through these programmes. 200,000 stickers were pasted on the doors of Hindu houses around the country and around 100,000 Hindus took part in these conferences.
The concluding programme was held by the National Hindu Conference at Shalika Grounds, Colombo on February 10, 2013 under the leadership of DM Swaminathan MP. He is trustee of the famous Sri Ponnambalawaneshwarar Temple in Colombo and also the grandson of Shri Kumaraswami who was the president of the reception committee in 1897 to welcome Swamiji when he returned to Colombo from the World Religion of Parliament.
A cultural procession with Swamiji’s photograph marched through the main streets of Colombo and ended at the Shalika Grounds. An exhibition of various Hindu organisations was held at the Shalika Grounds.
At 3pm the programme started with the hoisting of national flag by Hon. Shri Arumugan Thondaman, Minister of Livestock and Rural Development. Swami Sarvaroopanandha, president of Ramakrishna Mission Colombo blessed the programme. Brammachari Dharshan Chaithanya of Chinmaya Mission and the Buddist monk Amarapura Nikaya Gnanesgwara Thero also graced the occasion.
Prof Anirudhdha Deshpande, All India General Secretary of Swami Vivekananda 150th birth anniversary celebration committee, Shri S Rajendranji Dhakshin Kshetra Karyavah, Shri RBVS Manianji VHP Tamil Nadu were the guest speakers in the programme.
Ministers, deputy ministers, Members of the Parliament from all parties, provincial ministers, Director of Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs, leaders of all Hindu organisations were present on the stage.
About 10 thousand Hindus attended the programme in a disciplined manner. They were totally involved and happy due to the success of the programme. They were from all 25 districts in Sri Lanka within 150 divisions (Taluks) consisting of 640 villages.
Lunch, dinner and essential facilities were provided to all. Traffic and security arrangements were perfect with the help of government authorities. Printing and electronic media gave a good coverage to the programmes.
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