Jalandhar: Drawing the attention of the Indian Government before the House; MP Rajya Sabha Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal raised an issue related to the sentiments of 3 crore Sikh devotees around the world.
Referring to the Government of India’s many schemes for tourism promotion, Dr Mittal emphasized the same fervour on various Sikhism-related religious places across India, where crores of devotees come every year from all over the world. Here, Dr Mittal also referred to the Prime Minister’s foundation laying with a funding proposal of Rs 500 Crore for the development of a famous temple in Assam.
Representing the State of Punjab, Dr Mittal demanded that under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, better facilities should also be created for Sikh devotees by developing Sikh religious places in every state. There should be better connectivity amongst all of these religious places, by being connected to major metro cities through rail, road and air. As such, all the devotees will be facilitated to travel to the religious places of Sikhism in all Indian states, and have “darshan”.
Highlighting many ‘Swadesh Darshan’ projects and developments of various other religions’ places in different states through circuits, Dr Mittal talked about Punjab and its values preached and propagated by various esteemed Gurus, where the basic objective of Sikhism is selfless service and learning. Sikhism and Sri Guru Granth Sahib teach all to serve people, get connected with society. There are “Panj Takht of Sikhism” in different Indian states, and apart from this, there are many “Gurudwaras” associated with Sikhism across the country. All of these should have great connectivity so that all the devotees can travel to the religious places of Sikhism in all the states of the country and have open darshan to their fill.
