City celebrates Sikh guru’s birth anniv

Kolkata: Mahan Gurmat Samagam — a grand religious congregation to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of

Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur

Ji, the ninth Sikh Guru — was celebrated with huge religious fervour in Kolkata on Friday and Saturday by

IHA foundation

. The programme marked the first of a series of celebrations in eastern India.

Los Angeles-based musician Bhai Anantvir Singh Ji performed on the occasion and was among a slew of dignitaries from different states who attended the centenary celebrations at

Sant Kutiya Gurdwara

in Bhowanipore. The organisers said around 500–700 persons attended the two day programme where everyone was instructed to don masks and maintain social distancing protocols to check the spread of Covid-19.

“Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s unparalleled and supreme sacrifice to uphold the value of righteousness, truth and freedom of faith and humanity is a lesson to be remembered not only by Sikhs, but by every citizen of India, as he stood against oppression by the then rulers. In today’s time, such a lesson becomes even more important. We see people yelling themselves hoarse over extremely inconsequential matters and more importantly, in today’s time, religious freedom has become even more constricted,” said Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, chairman of IHA Foundation.