London: The north Indian festival of Baisakhi, celebrated with joy and enthusiasm mostly in Punjab and Haryana marking the harvesting of rabi crops, found its echo in the US embassy in UK here.

A two-hour long celebration including Punjabi music and folk dance by a Bhangra Group was jointly organised by US Ambassador Robert H Tuttle, The Loomba Trust and the Sikh Welfare and Cultural Society UK, Leicester last evening to mark the occasion.

In his brief address, Ambassador Tuttle said the purpose of celebrating the festival in the Embassy was to build bridges between India and the USA and the world at large .

He praised the valuable contribution made by nearly half a million Sikhs in the USA to the American society.

According to Raj Loomba, Founder chairman of the Loomba Trust, this is the first time Baisakhi, which also marks the founding of Khalsa Panth by the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was celebrated at the American Embassy here.

Noting that Sikhim was the fifth largest religion in the world, Justice Mota Singh, the first Asian judge in the UK, lauded the commitment of Sikhs to identify themselves with the country of their adoptation.
Source : PTI