Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], September 23 (ANI): Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the state government will organise four Shobha Yatras (religious processions) across Punjab as part of year-long celebrations to mark the 650th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Ravidas ji.
Cheema said on Tuesday that the decision was taken during a meeting held regarding the celebrations, with the first Shobha Yatra scheduled to begin from Varanasi and culminate at Khuralgarh Sahib in Punjab.
Speaking about the preparations, Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "Last year, the Punjab government decided that we will celebrate the 650th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Ravidas ji throughout the year. Under this, we had a meeting today, and in that meeting, it was decided that four Shobha Yatras (religious processions) are to be taken out in Punjab. The first Shobha Yatra, which starts from Varanasi and goes up to Khuralgarh Sahib, will reach Khuralgarh Sahib from November 30 to December 3. Similarly, the second Yatra will start from Faridkot on December 2.”
He further informed that the second and third Shobha Yatras will begin from Faridkot and Bathinda respectively, while another procession will start from Jammu.
" It will start on December 2 and will reach Khuralgarh Sahib by December 3. The third Shobha Yatra, will start from Bathinda on December 1 and will reach Khuralgarh Sahib by December 3. Similarly, the fourth Shobha Yatra will start from our neighbouring state of Jammu on November 30 and reach Khuralgarh Sahib by December 3," Cheema said.
Ravidas Jayanti is celebrated on Magh Purnima, the full-moon day of the Magh month in the Hindu calendar.
Meanwhile, amid the political standoff between AAP and BJP over the "drug menace" in Punjab ahead of Assembly polls, the state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday alleged that drugs were entering the country through the Gujarat border with the involvement of the Bharatiya Janata Party, even as he claimed the drug menace in Punjab was "almost finished" under the AAP government.
"The whole country knows that today, drugs across the country are coming through the Gujarat border, and the entire Bharatiya Janata Party is involved in it and is drowning the youth of the entire country in drugs. First, they drown them in drugs, and then they do a drama that they will end drugs," Cheema told ANI. (ANI)
"Four Shobha Yatras are to be taken out in Punjab" to mark Guru Ravidas ji's 650th birth anniversary: Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema
