By IANS,
Chandigarh : After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his inability to inaugurate the Khalsa Heritage Centre (KHC) complex in Anandpur Sahib, the Punjab government Friday announced that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would inaugurate it.
The prestigious memorial would be dedicated to the nation by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Nov 25, a state government spokesman said here.
“The Punjab government is all set to inaugurate the world-class Khalsa Heritage Centre (KHC) to showcase the rich legacy of the Sikh ideology and religion, which would be ever remembered by the future generations in the annals of the history of Punjab,” he said.
The decision was taken after a high-level meeting chaired here Friday by Punjab finance minister and Sri Anandpur Sahib Foundation chairperson Upinderjit Kaur.
She said that people from all religions across the globe would participate in the functions.
Kaur also gave in-principle approval to invite singers Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhonsle, depending on their availability.
Manmohan Singh, a Sikh himself, had agreed “in principle” to a request by the chief minister to inaugurate the KHC at Anandpur Sahib, 80 km from here, when the latter called on him in New Delhi in October.
“It is unfortunate that he (PM) has said that I am not coming. It was an honour for him, being a Sikh, to inaugurate this prestigious project. The Punjab Congress and Amarinder Singh are responsible for this cancellation (of the visit),” Chief Minister Badal said.
The Rs.275 crore project, announced in April 1999, was originally expected to be completed by September 2004 to coincide with the celebrations of the 400th year of the Golden Temple, but the completion deadline was pushed back several times.
In December last year, the Punjab government set the “final” deadline for July 30 this year, but even that was missed by the authorities.
Boston-based internationally acclaimed Israeli-architect Moshe Safdie has designed the complex, which is shaped like open hands offering prayers. The monument is termed as a “wonder in the making” and something that has no comparison in the country.
Being built on a 100-acre site at Anadpur Sahib, the KHC is to stand at a site that is the birth place of the ‘Khalsa Panth’, the present day Sikh religion. The second holiest Sikh shrine, Takht Keshgarh Sahib, is located there as well.
It was here in 1699, on the day of Baisakhi, that the 10th Sikh master, Guru Gobind Singh, founded the Khalsa Panth and baptized the ‘Panj Piaras’ (the first five baptized Sikhs known to be the loved ones of the guru).