Chandigarh (Balwinder Singh): Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday flagged off a special pilgrim train from Kurukshetra carrying over eleven hundred elderly devotees bound for the historic Somnath Temple in Gujarat. The journey is organized under the state government’s flagship Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana, a welfare initiative designed to provide free transport and logistics support to senior citizens visiting significant spiritual centres across the country.
Addressing the gathered pilgrims and senior seers at the launch ceremony, Chief Minister Saini emphasized that pilgrimages are a vital medium for social cohesion, allowing the younger generation to stay intimately connected to their ancestral roots, cultural values, and civilizational identity. Saini noted that visiting sacred destinations allows devotees to return home with renewed spiritual energy, inspiration, and heightened inner consciousness. Prior to waving the green flag, the Chief Minister paid obeisance to the accompanying saints, honoring them with traditional ceremonial shawls.
The pilgrimage coincides with the ongoing nationwide Somnath Swabhiman Parv celebrations, a year-long spiritual festival that commenced in January to commemorate a millennium of civilizational resilience at the historic coastal temple. Recalling the tumultuous history of the shrine, Saini stated that while the Somnath Temple was plundered and destroyed multiple times in the past, it rose from the ashes each time with redoubled strength, proving that deep-seated faith cannot be eradicated by force. He invoked Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s post-Independence vision, noting that the reconstruction of Somnath was fundamentally linked to the broader task of nation-building and cultural renaissance. Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership since 2014, the Chief Minister stated that India is experiencing a unique era where infrastructure development and heritage preservation are moving hand in hand, as evidenced by the construction of the Sri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the transformation of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham.
