Amritsar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ushered in the New Year with prayers at the historic Golden Temple in this holy city this morning.Â
Dr Singh, who arrived here
last evening, reached the holiest Sikh shrine along with his wife Gursharan Kaur around 0615 hours this morning. After paying their obeisance, the couple sat in the sanctum sanctorum and heard the Shabd Kirtan (holy hymns) for some time.
The Prime Minister was presented siropas (robe of honour) by head granthi Jasvinder Singh and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur. He spent about an hour in the Golden temple premises. The Prime Minister also paid obeisance at the Durgiana temple in the city later.
After his arrival here last evening, Dr Singh drove straight from the airport to the Circuit House along with his wife where they stayed overnight. They also met their relatives living in the city at the Circuit House last evening.
The family of Dr Singh, who was born in Gah village of Rawalpindi district–now in Pakistan, had migrated to this holy city after partition. He had lived and studied in this city.
Dr Singh had last visited the city and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple in March 2009 just a few weeks after his coronary bypass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The security was tightened in the holy city and around the Golden temple in view of Dr Singh’s visit.
