Indian Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann says he wants to attend Lahore’s World Punjabi Conference

Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said he wants to visit Lahore for the World Punjabi Conference after receiving an invitation from the organisers, while questioning whether the Indian government would allow him to travel to Pakistan.

Speaking in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Friday, Mann said the conference organisers had invited him to Lahore and offered to host him.

“The World Punjabi Conference is being held in Lahore. They have sent me an invitation and said they will host me,” Mann told the assembly.

Referring to previous restrictions on his foreign travel, he joked that if he was not allowed to visit countries such as France and Japan, he was unsure how he would be permitted to travel to Pakistan.

Mann also stressed the cultural ties between the two Punjabs.

“Our culture is the same. Many of our poets will be going there, and I also want to go because we share the same bonds, the same soil and many of the same problems,” he said, adding that greater interaction between the two sides was needed.

According to Indian publication The Tribune, World Punjabi Conference is scheduled to take place in Lahore from November 27 to 29. The event is being organised by Punjabi Prachar Organisation in collaboration with Punjabi Lehar and the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, with participants from several countries expected to attend.

During Mann’s remarks, Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and other lawmakers could be heard asking the chief minister to take them along if he received permission to travel to Lahore.

Mann responded by saying he wanted the entire assembly, including government and opposition members, to visit Kartarpur Sahib together.

He said that if the Kartarpur Corridor were reopened, the members could travel under the Speaker’s leadership to pay respects at the shrine associated with Guru Nanak, who spent the final years of his life there.

The Kartarpur Corridor remains suspended for pilgrims travelling from India, with India’s Ministry of Home Affairs citing the prevailing security situation.

Mann’s participation in the Lahore conference would depend on clearance from the Indian government. The Times of India also reported that the chief minister had expressed interest in attending the event and highlighted the shared cultural heritage of the two Punjabs.