LEH: The four-day 27th Sindhu Darshan Festival, symbolic festival of the Indus River, started this evening with the reception of the yatris at BVN School complex. The festival is being organized by Sindhu Darshan Yatra Samiti and Ladakh Phanday Tsogspa.
Chief Patron and Margdarshak of Sindhu Darshan Yatra Samiti, Indresh Kumar, who is a senior Pracharak and member of the national working committee of the RSS, presided over the reception programme. Other prominent people present on the occasion included Muralidhar Makhija (President, Himalaya Pariwar), Dr Jagbir (Information Commissioner, Govt of Haryana), Mangesh (RSS Pracharak) and Pardeep Gupta (Akhil Bhartiya CSR Pramukh- Vidya Bharti).
Speaking on the occasion, Indresh Kumar said, “This festival conveys a strong message of uniting different religions and faiths. It was first started in October 1997 and continues to be held every year to uphold the spirit of oneness in Ladakh region. Sindhu Darshan is a celebration of unity as well as communal harmony along with national integration.”
“Sindhu Darshan was started to focus attention on the heritage of the ancient Indian Civilization and Culture that ‘Sindhu’ symbolizes. It aims to celebrate the Sindhu as a symbol of this country’s ethnic diversity and to promote communal harmony,” he further said.
Speaking on the development in Ladakh, he said after the abrogation of Article 370, the region has witnessed rapid development in all spheres. “The yatris visiting from all over the nation would see the rapid development here. This festival has helped Ladakh economically as well,” he added.
This time as many as 2000 yatris from different parts of the country are taking part in the festival.
On the occasion, a colourful cultural programme depicting cultural diversity of India was also performed by cultural troupes including that from Northern Culture Centre Patiala.
