Special seminar in UK House to mark Guru Gobind’s birth anniv
LONDON: Leading British Sikh leaders came together for a special seminar to mark the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in the British Parliament complex on Thursday.
The seminar titled ‘Life and teachings of Guru Gobind Singh’ was organised by the high commission of India in association with Indo-british All-party Parliamentary Group.
Members of Parliament, including Britain’s first-turbaned Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, councillors and members of the Greater London Authority (GLA) joined senior representatives from gurdwaras and Sikh community organisations from across Britain to deliberate on the teachings of the 10th Sikh Guru.
Indian high commissioner to the UK, YK Sinha described the scale of the celebrations, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Patna Sahib earlier this year, as “unprecedented” in the UK.
He told the gathering that Guru Gobind Singh fought against oppression and injustice and was a beacon of “justice and harmony”.
The Indian high commission’s celebrations of the “momentous year” have included a series of events, including visits to gurdwaras, Sikh devotional music at India House in London, creation of a special commemorative photo-exhibition in association with Victoria and Albert Museum, and large- scale Baisakhi celebrations in April attended by around 20,000 people.
Labour MP Virendra Sharma used the occasion to seek support for his campaign calling on the British government to apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919, revived by London mayor Sadiq Khan during a visit to Amritsar earlier this week.