As Australia opens its heart to Sikhs, amidst members of Parliament, with participation of various Sikh bodies, Sikh scholars from across the globe and activists from Australia, the Australian Federal Parliament reverberated with the Shabads of Guru Nanak sung on Sikh musical instruments and shared His universal message on the occasion of the 550^th birth anniversary celebrations of the founder of Sikh faith, beautifully organised in Sikh style and tradition by the Australian Sikh Council in the evening of 22 October. 

THE FIRST-EVER INVESTITURE OF GURU GRANTH SAHIB –the Holy Scripture and the eternal Guru of the Sikhs at the Australian Parliament House, with scores of Sikhs and friends of Sikhs was a historic occasion which will be remembered for years to come by the Sikh community, not only in Australia but across the Sikh world.

Setting the tone for the evening, Sikh music vocalist Bimal Singh of the Gurmat Sangeet Academy Melbourne performed a beautiful melody of traditional Sikh music on classical instruments Taus and Rabab with Dayabir Singh and Himmat Singh joining him to play Shabads of Guru Nanak from Guru Granth Sahib, enthralling the audience.

Dwelling on the need for a 1Force-1Ness paradigm for life as created by Guru Nanak to address the issues of political paralysis, social justice, and rising extremism, keynote speaker Harinder Singh, of US-based Sikh Research Institute said, ‘Guru Nanak proclaims the biggest weapon you can carry with you is knowledge,’  In the same vein he applauded Australia for its Numero Uno ranking in the United Nations Education Index and emphasized how it sets an example for Sikhs and other countries to follow.

The leader of the Labor party Anthony Albanese said that ‘Sikh values are Labor values.’ Parliamentarians Adam Bandt, Warren Entsch and Bob Katter shared personal anecdotes from their interaction with members of the Sikh community and all seemed thrilled to be in the company of Sikhs. They were particularly impressed by the contribution of Sikhs to Australian society and were enamoured of the Sikh values of freedom, equality, compassion and hard work.

Parliamentarians AM Ben Morton, Julian Leeser, Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen, Julian Hill, Tim Watts, Tony Zappia, Anne Aly, Joanne Ryan, Dean Smith and others also joined the Sikhs in the celebrations.

Tracing the history and contribution of Sikhs in Australia, Tarunpreet Singh of Australian Sikh Heritage covered the 180 years of Sikh presence through his immaculate presentation.

“Guru Nanak’s revolutionary and progressive ideas of gender equality and women’s empowerment were way ahead of the times,” said Jatinder Kaur, Director of JK Diversity Consultants.

The Australian Sikh Council, which initiated this program expressed gratitude to Akalpurakh for the unprecedented public and political outreach made possible through this function and have announced its commitment to continue its Sikh advocacy work across Australia which has witnessed a huge growth of Sikh population in the last decade and is now the third destination for Sikhs, after US and Canada.