This year’s Guru Nanak Jayanti celebrations by the Sikh community will be a low-key affair. The Central Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee has decided to cancel the grand procession for the first time this year due to the pandemic.
The 551st Guru Nanak Jayanti also called Prakash Utsav held on Kartik Purnima every year will be celebrated on Monday, November 30 this year.
Mahendra Singh, president of Central Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Jamshedpur said, “Because of the prevailing pandemic and safety reasons, we took a decision to skip the grand procession.”
There will be no langars too wherein community kitchens serve meals of rice, chapattis, tadka dal, and pickles to visitors in gurudwaras.
A senior functionary of Central Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Satnam Singh Gambhir, who is also a national general of All India Sikh Students Federation had recently launched a campaign on Facebook seeking suggestions from the community members on whether to organise the nagar kirtan this year.
Talking to The Telegraph Online, Gambhir said, “Majority people said no in their comments. Out of 250 comments, 240 responses were negative – against hosting the nagar kirtan because of safety reasons.”
He also said to mark Guru Nanak Jayanti on Monday as gurudwaras will hold the concluding rituals of the three-day customary Akhand Path which had kicked off on Saturday, November 28.
Sarabjeet Kaur, a housewife in Bistupur said, “This will be the first time that the streets of steel city will miss the festive fervour on Prakash Utsav, where thousands of members of the Sikh community participate in the nagar kirtan. We also enjoy the langars in gurudwaras during the jayanti celebration. But, this year we will be deprived of that.”
This year the Prakash Utsav procession was supposed to be taken out from Jugsalai Gurudwara.
Last year, the grand procession was taken out from the Baridih Gurudwara and after traversing over 5 km the procession culminated at the central Gurudwara in Sakchi.
Jamshedpur has 36 gurudwaras located in various parts of the city while the population of the Sikh community is around 2.25 lakh.
