Forty young students from Arunachal Pradesh left Itanagar on September 25 carrying more than just their luggage — they carried the culture, identity, and spirit of an entire state.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu personally flagged off the bus at the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Secretariat in Itanagar, marking the beginning of what promises to be a life-changing trip to Somnath, Gujarat. The event, though brief in ceremony, carried a weight that was hard to miss. Art and Culture Minister Dasanglu Pul and Chief Secretary Manish Gupta were also present for the send-off, lending the occasion a sense of official importance that felt genuinely deserved.
The initiative is part of the Somnath Swabhiman Yatra — a nationwide campaign under which student groups from different states are being sent to Somnath for educational and cultural immersion. Arunachal’s contingent was organised by the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, and operates under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture. The students, drawn from universities and colleges across the state, were selected to represent Arunachal in this exchange.
And this is where it gets interesting. These students are not just going to see Somnath. They are going to share — to put Arunachal Pradesh’s indigenous traditions, dances, crafts, and identity on display before audiences from a vastly different corner of India. It is a two-way road of curiosity and learning. Gujarat and Arunachal may feel worlds apart geographically, culturally, even climatically. But that is exactly the point.
Speaking to the media after the flag-off, CM Khandu connected the initiative directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat — a programme designed to build national integration by encouraging young people from different states to interact, understand each other, and find common ground beneath their differences. It is a lofty idea, but sending actual students on actual journeys is a tangible way to make it real.
There is something quietly significant about watching 40 young people from the northeastern edge of India heading to visit one of its most ancient spiritual and cultural landmarks. Somnath’s temple has stood through invasions, destruction, and reconstruction across centuries. It is a site that belongs to all of India, not just Gujarat. And for students from Arunachal — many of whom may never have ventured this far west — experiencing it firsthand is an education no textbook can replicate.
These students will come back home with something different in their eyes. Maybe it will be an understanding of a culture they once only read about. Maybe it will be a friendship across borders. Maybe it will be just the simple, powerful realisation that India, for all its complexity, holds together.
That alone makes this yatra worth every kilometre.
