Akhand Path marks start of 650th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Ravidas

Jalandhar: To mark the beginning of year-long celebrations of the 650th birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas, the Punjab govt on Wednesday began an Akhand Path (uninterrupted recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib) at the Guru Ravidas Memorial in Khuralgarh, a site historically associated with the Guru in Hoshiarpur district.Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dera Sachkhand Ballan on Ravidas Jayanti brought the focus on the most influential dera of the Ravidasia-Ad-dharmi community in Punjab. Now, state govt bas chosen a historic place for the event, projecting its importance.Punjab ministers Harpal Cheema, Harjot Singh Bains, Tarnupreet Singh Sondh, Dr Ravjot Singh, Lal Chand Kataruchak, MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Punjab assembly deputy speaker Jai Kishan Singh Rori, and Punjab SC Commission chairman Jasvir Singh Garhi attended the opening of the Akhand Path. Cheema said chief minister Bhagwant Mann would also attend the Bhog of the Akhand Path on Friday, and the state govt, in consultation with the community, would hold year-long events.All India Ad-dharam Mission president Sant Satwinder Heera and Sri Guru Ravidas Sadhu Samparadi Society president Sant Nirmal Dass, and other sants of the Ravidasia/Ad-dharm community who are not aligned with Dera Ballan, also attended the event.The sants who attended the event follow Guru Granth Sahib. When Dera Ballan announced the founding of a new religion, ‘Ravidasia', with a new granth, ‘Amrit Bani Guru Ravidas', in 2010, these sants had announced that they would continue following Guru Granth Sahib. Later, in July 2020, Sant Satwinder Heera and a major section of sants and organisations of the Adi-dharmi/Ravidassia community issued an appeal urging their community members to mention "Adi-dharmi" as their religion in the 2021 census, which could not be held, while Dera Ballan pushed for registering Ravidasia in the census.