New gurdwara to celebrate Lohgarh’s Sikh heritage

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur  (File)

More than 300 years after brave warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur declared Lohgarh zone of Yamunanangar district in Haryana as the capital of the Sikh state in 1710, the foundation stone for symbolic “Lohgarh Khalsa Rajdhani” was laid down on Sunday to promote “divine tourism”. This initiative was taken by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Heritage Development Trust while the state government has also announced to develop this place as a tourist destination.

The new project initiated by the trust includes construction of a gurdwara, an exhibition hall, a langar hall and multimedia classrooms. Nodal officer of the project and Yamunanagar’s District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Gagandeep Singh told The Indian Express that the foundation stone for revival of the “Lohgarh Khalsa Rajdhani” concept was laid down by a group of five Sikh community members.

“Lohgarh Fort was constructed by common people of the country to uproot the then Mughal Empire and this Fort was not constructed by any monarch. In view of this, the trust decided that the foundation stone shall be laid down by commoners,” he added. Last year, after the state-level function for 300th martyrdom anniversary of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, a research was started on Lohgarh Fort in which many surprising facts pertaining to Sikh history came into light. “Bhai Lakhi Rai Vanjara was a main force behind the construction of Fort Lohgarh. Lohgarh was a important trading center and many manufacturing units were established by him for construction of the Fort Lohgarh,” said Singh.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had recently announced setting up of another trust named after Baba Banda Bahadur at Lohgarh to develop this area as a tourist destination, a magnificent memorial gate on the Kapal Mochan-Lohgarh road and ‘Badkhalsa Yatri Niwas’ and Pir Budh Shah Memorial Park at neighbouring village Sadhaura.