Guru Ravidass’s 650th Gurpurab and Vote Bank Politics

 

Guru Ravidass’s 650^th Gurpurab and Vote Bank Politics

I have been writing in my blogs on the subject.  Enough water has flown in the Yamuna and the Ganga since February 2026 when the issue of 650^th Gurpurab of Guru Ravidass started getting media focus prompted by the vested interests with a view to encash on the Dalit Vote Banks in the forthcoming State Assembly Elections in UP,
Punjab and other States. I thought of revisiting the matter to set it in its right perspective for the benefit of the stakeholder – political parties and the governments on hand and the followers of Guru Ravidass in India and abroad on the other. It became necessary as there are many loose ends which need to be tied up and take the matter to the table out of the lip service phase.

First, the State Governments in Punjab and UP –

Both in Punjab and UP, the governments are engaged and has taken or promised many steps to dedicate the programmes and projects to the memory of the great Guru. Though these steps are appreciable yet these require be fine-tuning for executing. . In Punjab, government has under taken to establish Guru Ravidass Bani Addyan Centre in Jalandhar near Dera Sachkhand Ballan and the foundation stone has
been formally laid. Government of Punjab must ensure that the Centre is completed and opened in February, 2027 as a befitting tribute to the great Guru. In addition to this, the ongoing project of Minare-e- Begumpura in Khuralgarh in Hoshiarpur must be completed and opened to the public well before the Gurpurab in

2027. It will also be appreciated if SGPC also comes forward to observe the 650^th Gurpurab of Guru Ravidass in in a befitting manner. It goes without saying that the Sabads and Bani of the great Guru adorn Sri Guru Grant Sahib and forms the ‘heart and soul’ of the great Granth – the living Guru of the Sikhs. I don’t have the details of the concrete projects being undertaken by the UP government particularly at the birthplace of Guru Ravidass; Seergoverdanpur in Kashi. There was a proposal put forward by Dera Sachkhand Ballan to earmark and handover a chunk of land in the vicinity of the Seergoverdhanpur Mandir to the Guru Ravidass Seergoverdhanpur Mandir Trust. It will only be appropriate to handover the said land to the Trust before February, 2027. The Guru Ravidass Kalsh Yatras undertaken by the BJP and RSS raised enough dust and are over. Today, September 8, I heard that BJP and UP Government is planning ‘Samrasta Yatra’ from Seergoverthanpur to celebrate the occasion. Now is the time to do something concrete on ground. People are tired and no more interested in ‘sweet nothings’.

Second, the Central Government in Delhi – A charter of proposals and roadmap to celebrate and observe the 650^th Gurpurab of Guru Ravidass has already been submitted to the GOI – PM Narendra
Modi through the high-ups’ in the BJP and RSS and also the interlocutors like Dera Sachkhand Ballan and others which I list below for ready reference –

The following suggestions were mde through letters and blogs for consideration of the GOI -

·        National Function on the Guru Ravidass Jyanti in 2027 at Seer Goverdhanpur, the birth place of the great Guru at Varanasi.

· Functions at important places pertaining to Guru Ravidass and his legacy like – Dera Sachkhand Ballan at Jalandhar and Charan Cho-Ganga at Khuralgarh in Hoshiarpur in Punjab, Guru Ravidass Temple at Tughlakabad in Delhi, Ravidass Chattri at Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, Sarnath/Budh Gaya in Bihar, Ahmedabad in Gujrat, Chennai in Tamil Nadu among others

· Issuing of Commemorative Postal Stamp and Coins.

· Inclusion of Guru’s Vani and socio-cultural message of Guru Ravidass in the syllabus and curricula of Schools and Colleges.

· All Universities should host functions to celebrate the 650th year of Guru’s Parkash Utsav appropriately.

· All schools and colleges should be advised to celebrate the occasion suitably.

· Establish Guru Ravidass Study Chairs at Banaras Hindu University at Varanasi, Guru Nanak Dev University at Amritsar, Panjab University at Chandigarh among others.

· Discussions and Debates on Guru Ravidass on Doordarshan

· Advise and direct all Indian Diplomatic Missions in the countries where members of the Ravidassia community are concentrated like the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Austria, Germany, and Italy among others.

· Special programmes on Guru Ravidass by the socio-cultural outfits like RSS, SGPC, Beas Satsang, Nirankari Satsang, Swaminarayan (Akshardham) among others, Chaitanya Prabhu outfits among others.

 

As of now, to my knowledge, no concrete pronouncement has been made by the GOI. The time is running out fast. The followers of Guru Ravidass are watching the entire process with concern and interest. They should not be taken lightly. The main issue of interest and concern is the historic Tuglakabad Guru Ravidass Mandir in Delhi. This issue must be resolved as early as possible. The land dedicated and offered by Sikandar Lodhi to Guru Ravidass must be restored to the community nt only as a spiritual and moral gesture but also as a concrete step to enforce ‘affirmative action’ to empower the socially weaker sections of the society and the followers of Guru Ravidass. RSS and VHP among others should step forward and extend their support in making the Tuglakabad Guru Ravidass Mandir a ‘Monument of Samrasta’, to my mind, in the larger interests of the society. I take the liberty of reminding the governments, political outfits and socio-cultural organizations to that the times have changed and rightly so. People are fully aware and awake to safeguard and pursue their interests at the festivals of democracy – Elections.

Third, Dera Sachkhand Ballan and other spiritual Deras – The Guru Ravidass Deras in Punjab and beyond have a definite role play and urge the Governments and Socio-cultural outfits like RSS, SGPC

among others to observe the 650^th Gurpurab of Guru Ravidass in a befitting manner – with solemnity and gaiety. Only the ‘Loaves’ by way of security paraphernalia, awards and other personal gestures should not make them contented. The Deras should represent their followers and uphold the flag of Guru Ravidass.

Meri Ada Ko Dabana To Khiar Mumkin Hai,

Magar Nai Awam Ki Abaz Kaun Rokega

 

India and Uzbekistan – Notes on Oral History

 

India and Uzbekistan – Notes on Oral History

I have been writing, off and on, in my blogs about some of my diplomatic and sometimes undiplomatic reflections of my work in the MEA and Indian diplomatic missions abroad. With reference to PM Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Kyrgyzstan for SCO summit
meeting, I wrote about India and Kyrgyzstan. Some of my friends and readers kindly responded and advised me to write a bit more regularly on my reminiscences and reflections on my work and interaction during my diplomatic career.  I thought of picking the threads and do my bit for consideration and understanding of my readers and the society.

As PM Narendra Modi also visited Uzbekistan in conjunction with his visit to Bishkek, let me write about Uzbekistan, the country in Central Asia with which I happened to work and interact during my tenure as the Director of Central Asia Division in the MEA from September, 1997 – December, 2000. India has civilizational bonds with Central Asian countries, extended neighborhood. The Mughal invader, Babur was an Uzbek of Fergana Valley who made India his home in the 16th century. After Uzbekistan’s independence from the erstwhile USSR in 1991, India recognized and established full-fledged diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan in March 1992. Friendly relations between the two countries got a further boost with the recent visit of PM Narendra Modi. India and Uzbekistan elevated their bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and set a $5 billion annual trade target by 2030. New agreements were signed to secured long-

term uranium supply and rare earth cooperation, alongside pacts covering defense, digital infrastructure (UPI/UZQR), and Ayurveda. Both the countries reached and signed agreements to enhance cultural ties - Buddhist site conservation and an Aral Sea afforestation Grant. PM Narendra Modi also received Uzbekistan's highest state award - the Order of Oliy Darajali Do'stlik. The interesting part is that it is easy and less time consuming to fly to Tashkent from Delhi and Amritsar than to Bombay.

Some interesting anecdotes of my tenure as Director of Central Asia Division – It fell on me to be the Aide of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other Minister in signing the agreements at Hyderabad House during Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s visit in 2000. Obviously, the first agreement was signed by the PM Vajpayee and President Karimov. The next agreement was to be signed by EAM Jaswant Singh and his Uzbek counterpart. EAM Jaswant Singh have had sophisticated style to use good ink-pens on such occasions. Accordingly our Protocol provided, as usual, provided good pens for the purpose. It so happened that after signing the first agreement, PM

Vajpayee, subconsciously, kept the pen in the pocket of his jacket. When EAM Jaswant Singh came to sign, there was no pen. I, without looking here and there, took out my own simple ball-point from my pocket and handed it over to EAM Jaswant Singh. He was not only surprised but apparently a bit annoyed too. But there was no time to make any fuss. I got 7 agreements signed with my ball-point which included important Minister namely; Home Minister, L. K. Advani and Culture Minister, Ananth Kumar among others. Later after the signing ceremony, we moved to the PM’s lunch in honour of the visiting Uzbek President. There, I got the chance to humbly explain the fiasco to the EAM, a man of pleasant demeanor and style, Jaswant Singh. The pen was retrieved from the Hon’ble PM’s pocket through one of his personal aides. Later, with the courtesy of my colleagues in the PMO; Sunil Jain and Ajay Bisaria, I got an enlarged photo autographed by the gracious PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee which still adorns my small study at my home.  I visited Uzbekistan in 2000 as leader of an official team of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Shipping and Transport to study and explore the feasibility of rail-road transport of goods to the land located countries of Central Asia through the Iranian Port, Bandar Abbas. It was an educative experience as we could travel from Tashkent to the border of Turkmenistan by rail enjoying the Uzbek hospitality – butter-milk (Lassi) of camel milk etc. From Tashkent, our Embassy arranged a short visit to Samarkand and interaction at

the Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre of Indian Culture; thanks to the courtesy and hospitality of my colleagues, Ashok Sharma and Vinay Kawatra. It was pleasant to visit and see the Indian Chancery building which we got in exchange of a plot of land in Chankyapuri in New Delhi with Uzbekistan, the first Central Asian country to get a plot for their Chancery at a prestigious location. I was involved in the process of completing the deal. I also recall my involvement in the filming and shooting of a Hindi movie in Uzbekistan, land of Indian songs and dance in our ‘near abroad’.

India and Uzbekistan enjoy warm and close friendly ties as partners in development. It is a matter of great satisfaction for me as the one who remained closely associated with the process of developing excellent relations between India and Uzbekistan.