New Jersey, Delaware declare April as “Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month”

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The States of New Jersey and Delaware have declared April as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month, according to a Times of India report.

New Jersey State Senate and Assembly passed a joint resolution on March 26 and Delaware Governor John Carney announced the declaration of “Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month” on March 28.

“It is highly appreciable and we thank the US administration, the New Jersey state administration, the US Sikh Congressional Caucus Committee, East Coast Coordination Committee and others for joining hands to make this happen,” Pritpal Singh, the coordinator of the American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC) told Times of India.

Due to a large population of Indian American Sikhs, New Jersey has over 12 Gurdwaras.

In November 2017, Ravi Singh Bhalla was elected as the first Sikh Mayor and Gurbir Singh Grewal was elected as the first Sikh Attorney General in New Jersey.

Sikhism is the world’s fifth largest religion.

“This will help to boost the image of the Sikhs as separate community which believes in peace and should not be mistaken. We are extremely thankful to New Jersey for showing immense faith and memorializing contributions of Sikhs in the development,” Indian American Sikh J.S. Hothi, told Times of India.

Hothi noted that the Sikh community in the U.S. celebrates the festival of Baisakhi on April 14, thus dedicating April as “Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month” will help spread the awareness of Sikhism in the U.S.