Amritsar, India - Sikhism's highest religious body elected Avtar Singh Makkar, a senior religious leader, as its new president Wednesday in the religion's holiest city.
Mr. Makkar, who for 25 years headed a Sikh temple in the industrial town of Ludhiana in northern India, was the unanimous choice of the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the body that administers Sikh religious and cultural institutions worldwide.
The SGPC operates from the most revered Sikh shrine – the marbled Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, 450 kilometres northwest of New Delhi.
Soon after being elected, Mr. Makkar said he hoped to promote the Sikh religion in India and abroad and encourage more young people to take the vows of priesthood.
The Sikh religion was founded in the 15th century by Guru Nanak, who broke away from India's predominant religion of Hinduism and preached equality of races and genders and rejection of idol worship and the caste system.
Sikhs comprise fewer than 2 per cent of India's more than one billion people.