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First Gurpurab of Guru Nanak at
the White House in Washington
WSN Network
 Washington:
‘Welcome to the White House’ was the greeting with which Christina
M. Tchen, Top official of President Obama and head of the White
House office of Public Engagement office, greeted a room full of
Sikh men with all kinds of colorful turbans and ladies with
traditional Punjabi dress, gathered to celebrate Guru Nanak’s
birth-anniversary for the first time on Friday afternoon. She
reiterated, ‘This is your White House and this first event is the
just the beginning and it will be part of many gatherings of your
community here. We want to you stay in contact with us.”
Senior officials
at the White House greeted 125 Sikhs at the entrance to the White
House complex. The program, which began at
3:15 pm,
started with a Sikh prayer by Sarabjit Singh, Granthi of NY Gurdwara
in Glen
Cove in
Long Island. Sarabjit Singh offered prayers for President Obama and
his administration in addition the prayers for the well-being of
entire humanity. Traditional Kirtan with harmonium and tabla was
performed by Ragi Nirmal Singh Nagpuri, and Sukhjeevan Singh of the
Golden Temple, India, and translation of hymns was provided. They
were accompanied by talented Tabla player Sucha Singh of Jalandhar.
In addition, Guru Sangat Singh and Gursangat Kaur, American Sikhs
sang a song of Nanak in English which was accompanied by Guitar.
Speeches of
senior officials of President Obama’s administration were
interspersed by series of Sikh greetings Bole So Nihal and
thunderous response of "Sat Sri Akal" which means - 'whoever calls
the Timeless Being is true, is blessed'.
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Speeches of senior officials of President Obama’s administration
were interspersed by series of Sikh greetings Bole So Nihal and
thunderous response of "Sat Sri Akal" which means - 'whoever calls
the Timeless Being is true, is blessed'. |
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Religious
representative of President Obama, Paul Monteiro, said, “It is truly
a privilege to host this event and it is special day for the White
House to mark this significant occasion for the Sikh community. We
welcome you to be involved in everything that President is
involved.”
Dr. Rajwant
Singh, Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education
(SCORE) who organized this first Sikh event in collaboration with
the White House, said, “It is a great day for the Sikhs in the
United States and for the entire community worldwide to see that the
most important day of our lives is being celebrated at the
invitation of President Barack Obama. This event is a tribute to all
the pioneers of the Sikh community who worked hard to lay the
foundation of our community in America. It is a great accomplishment
for the entire Sikh community. We are thankful to President and his
administration for opening their hearts and the doors of the White
House for Sikhs. We have been in
America
for over 100 years and this definitely sends a strong signal that
this White House recognizes the Sikh presence in the U. S."
Among the
officials who spoke and intermingled with the Sikhs at this event
were: Chris Lu, Cabinet Secretary for President Obama, Kalpen Modi,
a Hollywood actor and now Associate Director of Public Engagement
office, President Obama's top science adviser, John P. Holdren,
Michael Strautmanis Chief of Staff to the Assistant to the President
for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Engagement, Adolfo
Carrion , Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, and
officials from the Justice Department working on the discrimination
cases related to Sikhs in US. They all expressed support for the
Sikhs.
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Religious
representative of President Obama, Paul Monteiro: “It is a special
day for the White House...We welcome you to be involved in
everything that President is involved.” |
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Some of the
other Sikhs who attended were: Bibi Inderjit Kaur, wife of Late
Harbhajan Singh Yogi, from Espanola, New Mexico, Tehel Singh,
President of Sikh Cultural Society, the largest Gurdwara in New
York, Satjiv Singh Chahil, a top official of computer giant company
Hewlett-Packard, Baldev Singh Grewal, owner and publisher of large
Punjabi newspaper, Sher-e-Punjab, Dr. Kanvarjit Singh Bedi from
Cleveland, Kartar Singh Khalsa from Virginia, Rana Singh Sodhi
from Phoenix, Arizona whose brother Balbir Singh Sodhi was killed
after 9/11 in a hate crime, Surinder Singh Raheja from Virginia,
Harpreet Singh Sandhu from California, Harpreet Singh Everest from
Yuba City, California, Bhupinder Singh Bhurji, representative of
Namdhari community in US, Dr. Charn S Nandra, Mohinder Singh
Taneja, Darshan Sing Bajwa, Gurbhej Singh Waraich, Madan Mohan
Singh, Bhupinder S. Boparai, Jatinder Singh Sabharwal from Texas,
Gurcharan Singh from the World Bank, Paul Kandhari and Inderpal
Singh Dhall, officials of Long Island Gurdwara in NY, Amandeep Singh
Sidhu of Sikh Coalition and Harpreet Singh of the United Sikhs.
There are close
to half million Sikhs in the U.S and they have now established a
thriving community in the United States and continue to make
significant contributions to American society as physicians,
high-tech professionals, academics, entrepreneurs, cab drivers and
convenience store workers. They are amongst the most hard-working,
educated and prosperous groups of Americans. The first Asian
American to be elected to U. S. Congress in 1962 was a Sikh from
California.
18
November 2009
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