New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, will be visiting Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Punjab on the occasion of Ravidass Jayanti, a prominent Ravidassia community sect that has much influence in the state’s Doaba region comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts.

He will be spending nearly 45 minutes on Sunday in the dera located on the outskirts of Jalandhar with Sant Niranjan Das, the revered saint of the Ravidassia community and head of Dera Ballan, who was conferred the Padma Shri on Republic Day.

As per the tour programme of the Prime Minister, he will be reaching the Adampur airport at around 3.30 pm, from where he will be heading to the sect in a helicopter.

PM Modi last visited the air base of Adampur on May 13, 2025, where he had interacted with brave air warriors and soldiers, days after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire.

Adampur was among the air force stations that Pakistan attempted to attack on the intervening night of May 9 and 10 after India’s ‘Operation Sindoor.’

As per the official programme, during the visit the Prime Minister will rename Adampur’s civil airport after Guru Ravidass Maharaj in honour of sentiments of the community whose concentration is the highest in the state’s Doaba region — the area between the Beas and the Satluj rivers.

The Doaba region holds 23 of 117 Assembly seats and the Dera Sachkhand Ballan has direct influence on at least 19 seats.

Also, the PM will virtually inaugurate the new terminal of the Halwara airport in Ludhiana.

On the auspicious occasion of the 649th birth anniversary of Sant Guru Ravidass, the renaming of Adampur airport honours the revered saint and social reformer whose teachings of equality, compassion, and human dignity continue to inspire India’s social ethos.

Further advancing aviation infrastructure in Punjab, the terminal building being inaugurated by the PM at Halwara will establish a new gateway for the state, catering to Ludhiana and its surrounding industrial and agricultural hinterland.

Located in Ludhiana district, Halwara is also home to a strategically important Indian Air Force station. The earlier airport in Ludhiana had a relatively small runway, suitable for small-size aircrafts.

To improve connectivity and accommodate larger aircrafts, a new civil enclave has been developed at Halwara which has a longer runway capable of handling A320-type aircrafts, an official statement said.

Sant Niranjan Das, the spiritual head has devoted his entire life to spreading the teachings of Sant Guru Ravidass Maharaj across India and abroad, while also strengthening the values of social harmony, service, and humanity.

Last month, ex-Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Vijay Sampla, along with Sant Niranjan Das, met PM Modi at his official residence in New Delhi and had urged that the Adampur airport be renamed after Guru Ravidass Maharaj.

Ahead of the PM’s visit, the AAP government in Punjab on Thursday announced to establish the Sri Guru Ravidass Bani Adhayyan Centre near Dera Sachkhand Ballan and got three pieces of land, worth Rs 10.50 crore, registered in its name.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the novel initiative was “one of its kind in the country, and the government has got registered more than nine acres in the name of the Adhayyan Centre.”

“The Punjab government stands totally committed to ensuring that the teachings and ideology of Sri Guru Ravidass reach every nook and corner of the globe,” Cheema was quoted as saying.

The government’s decision is being seen as an attempt to woo the Ravidassia community ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.

Dera Ballan, located in Ballan village some eight km from Jalandhar city, was founded in the early twentieth century by Sant Pipal Das.

–IANS

rs/