International Sikh Conclave ends

Patna, September 24

A three-day International Sikh Conclave ended here on Saturday with Governor Ram Nath Kovind making an appeal to the participants to visit Patna to celebrate the 350^th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in January next.

“It is a matter of great opportunity and challenge for the state government to organise the 350^th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj as ‘Prakash Parv’ who was the 10^th Guru of Sikhs,” Kovind said while addressing the valedictory session of the conclave organised by the state Tourism Department.

The ‘Prakash Parv’ would provide Bihar an opportunity to showcase itself on a global stage, Kovind said and urged the participants to visit Patna during the celebration to be held between December 30, 2016, and January 10, 2017.

Stating that Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism evolved and grew in Bihar, Kovind said the state is the birth place of Guru Govind Singh.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal on September 22 inaugurated the Sikh Conclave, the first of its kind. They released a book dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh.

Badal gave a cheque of Rs 10 crore to Kumar to set up a building to accommodate people coming to Patna to participate in the ‘Prakash Parv’.

The conclave was attended by eminent Sikh personalities from the country and abroad that included union minister SS Ahluwalia, Uttar Pradesh BR Ramuwalia, former union minister SS Dhindsa, former chairman of National Minorities Commission Tarlochan Singh, Patna Saheb Jathedar Iqbal Singh, Ruby Dhalla, ex-MP of House of Commons of Canada, RS Sandhu, and Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Licestershire, UK.

Sikh historians and scholars took part in panel discussions the life and philosophy of Guru Gobind Singh.

Tourism Department Principal Secretary Harjot Kaur welcomed participants who observed a two-minute silence in memory of the soldiers who were martyred in Uri attack. — PTI