Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said that the Somnath Swabhiman Parv will be celebrated across the country throughout the year to commemorate the enduring spirit of the Somnath temple. Inaugurating the festival at Prabhas Patan, in Gujarat, the Minister said, the Somnath Temple is a testament to the strength and resilience of the country’s civilisation. He said this festival is an opportunity to tell the world that India will neither bow down nor fall.

 

The event marks the 1,000th anniversary of the first major attack on the shrine by Mahmud of Ghazni in January 1026 AD and the upcoming 75th anniversary of the restored temple’s inauguration in 1951. Akashvani correspondent reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the grand celebrations of Somnath Swabhiman Parv on the 11th of this month. Major highlights of the festival include a massive drone show, the 72-hour Omkar Naad, and a grand Shaurya Yatra.