Talk ‘Hindutva agenda’ with PM Modi: UK Sikhs

JALANDHAR: British Sikh groups led by the Sikh Federation have written to Prime Minister Theresa May, urging her to question PM Narendra Modi on issues of ‘extreme Hindutva agenda’, ‘growth of Hindu radicalisation across the globe’ and ‘treatment meted out to religious minorities and Dalits in India’ during their meeting on April 18 in London in the backdrop of CHOGM to be held from April 16-20.
They have also cited a research at Leeds University to argue that it found no evidence of radicalization of Sikhs in the UK. The Sikh Federation, UK, which has sent a letter to May on Tuesday, urging her to raise the concerns of the UK Sikh community with Modi, said, along with around 200 Sikh gurdwaras in the UK, the Federation of Sikh Organizations, The Sikh Network and other Sikh groups had also supported the letter.

It said that when Modi first came to the UK as the Indian PM in November 2015, the Sikh community raised a number of serious concerns with the UK government, MPs and media. The letter mentioned that to deflect attention from these concerns and growing ‘Hindu radicalization’, it was widely reported in the Indian media, following briefings by Indian officials, that a ‘dossier’ on ‘radicalization’ of British Sikhs was on the agenda when Cameron and Modi met.

The letter has argued, “This so-called dossier inappropriately maligned certain gurdwaras, individuals, Sikh TV channels and Sikh organizations in the UK.”

The UK Sikh groups have now argued that, “Modi should be prepared to respond to some difficult questions on these issues. The direction in which Modi is taking India needs to be checked as a matter of urgency,” said the letter, copies of which have also been sent to the UK leader of the opposition, foreign secretary, home secretary, their counterparts and other leading politicians.

“Following Modi’s last visit we were subsequently assured that some of these concerns were taken up through diplomatic channels as the UK government, unlike the Indian regime, does not see the benefit of ‘megaphone diplomacy’, especially given the British colonial past and continued Indian sensitivities,” the Sikh groups have said in the letter.

Sikh Forum seeks audience with PM Modi

Before his visit to the UK, Delhi-based Sikh Forum has requested a brief audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that its leaders could articulate what, they believed, the Sikh Diaspora seeks from the Indian government under his leadership. The Forum also mentioned that the recent reports undermined image of Sikhs and amounted to profiling of Sikhs in India and abroad. In their letter, forum president Pushpinder Singh Chopra and general secretary Partap Singh have said they wanted to share their concerns “over a series of recent news reports that have sought to undermine image of the Sikh community in the diaspora.” “Such reports, attributed mostly to unnamed government sources, are increasingly profiling the Sikhs in India and abroad in very negative light,” the letter adds.