New Delhi: Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan received Tuesday three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib and 44 Afghan Sikhs who reached India from Kabul via Dushanbe in Tajikistan on a special Air India flight. The Guru Granth Sahib copies will be taken to Guru Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara in New Mahavir Nagar here, according to people coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Indian government.
“The Afghan Sikhs will stay at a hotel in Karol Bagh till further arrangements are made,” said Kanv Bhalla, an entrepreneur coordinating rehabilitation efforts on behalf of New York-based philanthropist ‘Mandeep Singh Sobti’.
Sobti and Paramjeet Singh Anand through their Sobti Foundation have undertaken the rehabilitation of these distressed Afghans in coordination with and under the guidance of the government of India, he said.
Puri, Muraleedharan, government officials and BJP leaders reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport here in Tuesday morning to welcome the Afghan nationals.
“Today, I got the privilege to serve three ‘swaroop’ of Guru Granth Sahib ji that arrived in Delhi from Kabul,” Puri, the Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, tweeted in Hindi. He also shared a video that showed him carrying a copy of the scripture.
See video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1430025424998789121
“Preaching of Guru Nanak Dev ji to serve the humanity is something being followed by the entire Sikh community,” Puri said, according to a party statement.
Also present at the airport were BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam, BJP National Yuva Morcha secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, spokespersons Aditya Jha and Brajesh Raiand and RP Singh.
Nearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan. These people have taken shelter at the Karte Parwan gurdwara in Kabul, which is close to the airport.
