PM Modi to attend 'Dev Deepawali' in Varanasi on November 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on November 12 to participate in the 'Dev Deepawali' celebrations. The visit was planned after a number of local leaders had invited him for the Dev Deepawali event during an interaction with party workers on October 24.

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The Prime Minister will also participate in the 550th Prakashotsav of Guru Nanak Dev at the Guru Bagh Gurudwara on the same day. The 'Prakashotsav' is being celebrated on an elaborate scale and Sikhs from all parts are expected to attend the event. The head Granthi of the Gurudwara, Sardar Sukhwinder Singh, has expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and said that it would be an honour to welcome him on the pious occasion. In his recent 'Mann ki Baat' programme, Modi had spoken about the Guru Bagh Gurudwara.

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About Dev Deepawali

The Dev Deepawali (the Diwali of the Gods) is the festival of Kartik Poornima celebrated in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It falls on the full moon of the Hindu month of Kartika (November - December) and takes place fifteen days after Diwali. The steps of all the ghats on the riverfront of the Ganges River, from Ravidas Ghat at the southern end to Rajghat, are lit with more than a million earthen lamps (diyas) in honour of Ganga, the Ganges, and its presiding goddess.

The gods are believed to descend to Earth to bathe in the Ganges on this day. The festival is also observed as Tripura Purnima Snan. The tradition of lighting the lamps on the Dev Deepawali festival day was first started at the Panchganga Ghat in 1985. During Dev Deepawali, houses are decorated with oil lamps and coloured designs on their front doors. Firecrackers are burnt at night, processions of decorated deities are taken out into the streets of Varanasi, and oil lamps are set afloat on the river.

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