PM Modi to address from Red Fort lawns after sunset to mark 400th birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur
New Delhi, April 19
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sidestep tradition when he will address the nation from the lawns of Red Fort on April 21, to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur.
He will become the first PM to deliver an address from the monument after sunset. It was at the Red Fort that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb ordered the execution of Guru Teg Bahadur in 1675.
Meanwhile, the Centre has sent invites to prominent Sikh personalities, including former PM Manmohan Singh, to attend the two-day commemorative event being organised by it at the Red Fort to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the nation from the Red Fort on April 21, the second day of the event. The invitees include sitting and former Punjab CMs Bhagwant Singh Mann, Prakash Singh Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh, heads of five Sikh Takhts, former and sitting MPs and MLAs from the community, head of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat Gurcharan Singh Gill, heads of other institutions like the SGPC, and prominent persons from different walks of life.
Sources said though the event was taking place under the aegis of the Union Culture Ministry, the PMO is coordinating and overlooking the minutiae of the planning and preparations.
The Union Home Ministry is also understood to be in the loop. A top source said a list of 12,000 participants had been drawn and the number could go up further. —
