Union ministers receive Guru Granth Sahib from Kabul

Earlier, pictures of three Sikh evacuees carrying the copies of Guru Granth Sahib on their heads barefooted at Kabul Airport went viral on social media

Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, V Muraleedaran and two other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Tuesday received three copies of Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib as they arrived from Kabul along with 75 evacuees from Afghanistan on an Indian Air Force plane.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, MoS external affairs V Muraleedharan, BJP leader Sardar RP Singh receive copies of Guru Granth Sahib brought from Kabul, at Terminal 3, IGI airport in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

Puri tweeted visuals of him carrying the holy book on his head and called it his privilege. In a tweet, Murleedharan, the minister of state for external affairs, said: “Joined Minister Shri @HardeepSPuri Ji at Delhi Airport in receiving Swaroop of Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji arrived from Afghanistan along with evacuees.”

Earlier, pictures of three Sikh evacuees carrying the copies of Guru Granth Sahib on their heads barefooted at Kabul Airport went viral on social media.

RP Singh, a BJP leader, said the copies of the scripture will be kept at Guru Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara, better known as Kabuli Gurudwara in New Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, which shelters hundreds of Afghan Sikh nationals.

Around 700 people, including Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, have been brought to India from Kabul. The evacuees include Afghan lawmakers Narinder Singh Khalsa and Anarkali Kaur Honaryar.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjinder Sirsa has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to extend the cut-off date under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act for fast-tracking of citizenship from 2014 to 2021 so that Afghan evacuees can be granted Indian nationality. The law was passed in 2019 to fast-track citizenship process for non-Muslims from three neighbouring countries, including Afghanistan.