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Prime VIP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a surprise visit to the langar hall of the Golden Temple, where he served food, knelt and bowed five times before the Sikh Holy book, and was honoured with a siropa.
His visit came on the sidelines of 6th Heart Of Asia-Istanbul conference in Amritsar.
This is PM Modi's first visit inside the Golden Temple as a Prime Minister. His gesture is widely seen as an attempt to win over the Sikh community in Punjab that goes to polls early next year.
Wearing a woollen cap - a must for any non-Sikh - he moved around the sarvoar's parikrama, which is nearly a kilometre-and-half long, in about 10 minutes.
Sikh devotees, standing in queues, were surprised to find the Prime Minister. Many of them gathered around him and asked for selfies and photographs with him. He readily obliged some of them.
Earlier, he was seen exploring the new-look streets outside Golden Temple that showcases Sikh history in statutes, 16th century-Nanakshaki bricks
He also wrote remarks in the visitor's book maintained by the Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC).
His remarks were in Gujarati, which read," Guru bhoomi ko shat shat pranam".
'We are just lucky to have him here. We wish we were told by the police here earlier. We could have brought our family members," said Gurpreet Singh, a devotee.
There were also those who ran to him to offer prashad.
As the police or weapons are not allowed inside the Golden Temple premises since 1984, the task force of the SGPC formed a human chain to escort him and usher him inside the sanctum sanctorum.
He was accompanied by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal and daughter in law Harsirmat Kaur Badal.
