The 61st Grand Festival of Grand Lodge of India (GLI), the annual convocation of the apex body of Freemasons in India, one of the oldest bodies in the world, was held on November 26 at Raajkutir. The Freemasons Society is a non-political, non-religious social organisation, driven by the spirit of brotherly love, relief and charity and at present has around 20,000 active freemasons across every section of the society including doctors, chartered accountants, lawyers, architects, businessmen, officers from the armed forces and civil services.
Grandmaster MW Ashok Kumar Sharma meeting the members of the Freemasons Society after the meet.
The highest authority of freemasons in India, Grand Master of GLI, presided over the festival in which more than 870 freemasons from all over India were in attendance. The event also witnessed the announcement of RW Bro Pervez S Kaikobad as the next regional grand master of the Regional Grand Lodge of eastern India andRW Bro TN Manoharan, an eminent chartered accountant and the chairman of IDBI Bank, as the next regional grand master of the Regional Grand Lodge of southern India.
The list of some of the prominent Indian freemasons includes Bro Naren Dutta (Swami Vivekananda), Motilal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, S. Radhakrishnan, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Justice Dinshaw Madon, Justice Prakash Narain, Justice P.N.Khanna and Lt. Gen S.N. Sharma.