Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said that ‘Bhagwan Valmiki Ji Darshan Yatra’ was symbolic of our age-old legacy of propagating love, universal brotherhood, harmony and compassion.
Badal, along with his Cabinet colleagues, eminent religious and spiritual leaders besides Members of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and people from different walks of life, paid their obeisance and respects to Bhagwan Valmiki’s six-foot gold plated 800 kilograms idol.
The idol would be installed at Bhagwan Valmiki Sthal (Ram Tirath) at Amritsar on December 1 during a mega state-level function being organized on this historic occasion.
Badal, while addressing the gathering on the occasion of starting the week-long ‘Bhagwan Valmiki Ji Darshan Yatra’, exhorted the people to throng the sacred Bhagwan Valmiki Sthal where this magnificent idol would be installed with full religious fervor, rituals and reverence.
He also appealed the people belonging to all faiths, communities and religions to offer their prayers on this auspicious occasion, rising above the parochial considerations of caste, colour and creed.
The Chief Minister said that the idol would be taken to different places across the state in a religious procession (darshan yatra) and would finally reach at Bhagwan Valmiki Sathal at Sri Ram Tirath Temple, Amritsar, on November 25.
“The route of the religious procession has been planned in such a manner that people from all faiths could pay their obeisance and reverence to Bhagwan Valmiki with religious spirit and enthusiasm,” he said.
Badal said that our great gurus, saints, seers and prophets propagated the message of love, peace and harmony besides oneness of God. “Treading on the same path shown by them, the State Government has organised Bhagwan Valmiki Ji Darshan Yatra to invoke the supreme values of humanity, humility and divinity,” he said.