BJP gears up in Punjab: Nitin Nabin to flag off Samrasta Yatra from Jalandhar on November 18
Jalandhar: With Punjab heading towards elections, the BJP is stepping up its campaign. Party president Nitin Nabin will be in Jalandhar on November 18 to flag off the Samrasta Yatra. The yatra marks the 650th birth anniversary of Sant Guru Ravidas.
The yatra will begin near Dera Sachkhand Ballan and end in Varanasi on December 5. Along the way it will pass through 46 cities in seven states and Union Territories: Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
“It will start from near Dera Ballan Sachkhand in Jalandhar on November 18. It is leant Nitin Nabin will flag it off and address a massive gathering.
The choice of starting point is deliberate. The Ravidassia community is a large Dalit socio-religious group in Punjab that follows the teachings of Guru Ravidas, the 15th-century Bhakti saint. Dera Sachkhand Ballan, in Ballan village near Jalandhar, is its biggest and most influential spiritual centre. The dera has shaped the community’s religious identity, its welfare work and its political weight. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited it recently.
Ravidassia voters are seen as a key swing group in Punjab, and every major party has tried to win them over at one time or another.
Modi’s link to the celebrations
The Prime Minister has taken a personal interest in the anniversary events. Varanasi, his own Lok Sabha constituency, is Sant Ravidas’s birthplace. At the Sant Guru Ravidas Janmasthali temple at Seer Goverdhanpur, near BHU, he unveiled a statue of the saint in the adjoining Ravidas Park.
He also opened development works worth about Rs 32 crore around the Janam Sthali. He laid the foundation stone for a Sant Ravidas museum and for the beautification of the park, together worth around Rs 62 crore.
Modi has described Ravidas as a Bhakti-era saint who gave fresh energy to a weak and divided India. He has said the saint spoke of freedom and worked to close social divides and that Ravidas “belongs to everyone.” The Prime Minister has also said his government is carrying the saint’s ideas forward under the “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” banner. He called on people to leave behind casteism.
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- PTC NEWS
