Sik­li­gar Sikhs in Jaipur bring their pres­ence on record by in­stalling a 15 feet tall Khanda at a road round­about near their dwelling, now named as Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Cir­cle by the mayor of Jaipur.

The Sik­li­gar Sikhs of the area called Jalana Don­gri in Jaipur have a rea­son to be proud as they were able to con­vince the city ad­min­is­tra­tion of Jaipur to name a road round­about next to their habi­tat as Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Cir­cle.  Erst­while Sikh ar­ti­sans -the Sik­li­gars in­stalled a life-sized Khanda -the dou­ble-edged Sikh sword, last week within the round­about area which was in­au­gu­rated by the Mayor of Jaipur Shri Ashok La­hoty amidst chant of Bole so Ni­hal by the res­i­dents.

Speak­ing on the oc­ca­sion, Shri La­hoty asked the San­gat to make this Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Cir­cle more pop­u­lar. He said that it was an ho­n­our to re­name the cir­cle and in­stall the Khanda as Guru Tegh Ba­hadur had saved the Hindu re­li­gion. Speak­ing to WSN, Dr. La­hoty said, “Guru Tegh Ba­hadur was not the Guru of the Sikhs alone, for his ex­em­plary sac­ri­fice he is known as “Hind di Chadar.”

The Khanda made of steel plates by two Sikhs is 15 feet tall and 6 feet in width. The ini­tia­tive to in­stall the Khanda was started by the Sik­li­gar Sikhs of the area and was sup­ported by the lo­cal leader Chan­dra Bha­tia, who had taken this up with the Jaipur De­vel­op­ment Au­thor­ity.  The con­stant sup­port of the Sikh res­i­dents of Raja Park for ed­u­ca­tion and other needs is al­ways ac­knowl­edged by the Sik­li­gar Sikhs.

“Let the San­gat pop­u­larise the Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Cir­cle which has this huge Khanda -the proud sym­bol of the Sikh peo­ple. It was an ho­n­our to re­name the cir­cle and in­stall the Khanda as Guru Tegh Ba­hadur had saved the Hindu re­li­gion. ”

Shri Ashok La­hoti, Mayor of Jaipur

A rare oc­ca­sion for the Sik­li­gar men, women and chil­dren who were there in large num­bers, the in­au­gu­ra­tion of the Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Cir­cle was at­tended by Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Jaipur Shri Kalicha­ran Saraf and Sikh lead­ers of Sikh Samaj Jaipur -Ajay­pal Singh, Khush­winder Singh and for­mer mu­nic­i­pal coun­cil­lor De­ven­dra Singh Shunty. Speak­ing ex­clu­sively to WSN, Pres­i­dent of the Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Sahib Gur­d­wara, run by the Sik­li­gars, Av­tar Singh said, “I feel very happy see­ing the Khanda Sahib at the cir­cle. Guru Sahib has be­stowed his Grace on us.” De­ven­dra Singh Shunty said, “It is a proud mo­ment for the Sikhs of Ra­jasthan.”

The chair­per­son of the Ra­jasthan State Com­mis­sion for Mi­nori­ties Jas­bir Singh con­grat­u­lated the Sik­li­gar Sikhs and said that it was a mo­men­tous oc­ca­sion that for the first time that the Khanda Sahib -a revered sym­bol of Sikhism has been pub­licly placed. He as­sured full co­op­er­a­tion to the Sikh com­mu­nity and said that the Mi­nori­ties Com­mis­sion would al­ways be there to sup­port the mi­nor­ity Sikh com­mu­nity in Ra­jasthan.

““I feel very proud see­ing the Khanda Sahib at the cir­cle. Guru Sahib has be­stowed his Grace on us.””

Av­tar Singh Sik­li­gar, Pres­i­dent, Gur­d­wara Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Sahib

Sik­li­gar Sikhs felt very happy and they were proud of their her­itage see­ing the huge Khanda in the mid­dle of the road, which they had dec­o­rated for the func­tion.  They vowed to clean the round­about reg­u­larly so that passersby un­der­stand the im­por­tance of the Khanda and the con­tri­bu­tion of Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Sahib.

As many as fif­teen stu­dents of A Lit­tle Hap­pi­ness Foun­da­tion un­der the lead­er­ship of Ravin­der Kaur and Parveen Kaur, es­pe­cially par­tic­i­pated from Al­war. In the evening they shared their learn­ing ex­pe­ri­ences with the Sik­li­gar youth and also at­tended a Gur­mat class by a young ac­tivist Ar­jun Singh.  

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With Jalana Don­gri be­com­ing Guru Tegh Ba­hadur Na­gar, the ex­is­tence of the Sik­li­gar Sikhs has been recog­nised, paving the way for many more jour­neys and goals ahead.