Sikh representatives from India and the United States kept up the pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the French turban-ban. Following two large protests in New Delhi and Chandigarh this week, the Indian government has not made any public statement whether Singh will lobby on the issue with Sarkozy during his two-day visit to attend India’s independence day celebrations on Jan. 26. Meanwhile, a public spat erupted Friday between a British Sikh organization and the American and Indian Sikh organizations on their approach to solving the ban problem.

Sikh organizations are asking Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to publicly state whether he will discuss France’s turban-ban with French President Nicholas Sarkozy during his visit to India this weekend, an activist said.

“The Indian government has been raising the issue with the French for four years,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, director of United Sikhs, a New York-based advocacy group. But now she hopes that Singh will raise the issue with Sarkozy in person, she said by phone from New Delhi.

Kaur was preparing for a news conference Friday afternoon at the Meridien Hotel as she nursed a sprained ankle from taking part in protests in New Delhi and Chandigarh earlier this week, ahead of Sarkozy’s visit.

“I think the community will soon be extinct, if you don’t stand up,” she said.

Gurdial Singh, an Indian national living in France, spoke at the news conference with Kaur.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh, a turban-wearing Sikh, cannot turn a blind eye to the injustice suffered by Sikhs in France, who have not been allowed to practice their faith freely, since a law was passed in 2004 that banned the wearing of the Sikh turbans in schools, he said. “Since the law, France has also not issued passports, driving licenses and residence cards to Sikhs who refuse to remove their turban for their ID photos.”

Daljeet Singh, chairman of the Dharam Parchar Committee of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, also spoke to the media, according to a United Sikhs press release.

“We understand that Dr. Manmohan Singh may be preoccupied presently, but we hope that he will grant us a meeting by next week,” he said.

The protests received wide coverage in Indian media. But what has also been in the media is a scathing opinion written by Jaidev Singh Rai, director of the Sikh Human Rights Group of England, in which he criticizes the American and Indian Sikh organizations’ efforts.

“It is a sad indictment of the current young leaders among Sikhs that not only have they failed to improve on the diplomatic and political skills of their parent, but they have in fact become more fundamentalist and unrealistic,” he wrote in The Tribune, Friday.

Jaidev Singh’s objection arises from the word “ostensible” that describes religious symbols that are banned by the French law. His approach in working with the French government was to frame the Sikh turban as a non-religious head covering that covers a religious symbol, the kesh. But Mejindarpal Kaur, also British, and other Sikh representatives’ contention is that the turban is an integral part of the Sikh identity.

These opposing ideas have caused confusion with the French government, Jaidev Singh said. All delicate negotiations were compromised and landed the French Sikhs in the current predicament. But there is still hope, he added.

Kaur, however, has the overwhelming support of other Sikh organizations, including: Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, various Shiromani Akali Dal parties, Dastaar Action Committee (France), British Sikh Council, International Human Rights Organisation and Advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka.

Kaur is leading the legal challenge to the French ban, which has been rejected by French courts. She is now working on an international approach, invoking the International Covenant on Civil and Protocol Rights of the United Nations and the European Convention on Human Rights, which France has ratified.

In New Delhi, Sikh organizations requested a meeting with Prime Minister Singh and the external-affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee, to request assurances that the ban issue would be discussed. They have not received a response yet.

Kaur said she also requested a meeting with Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, the current coalition of political parties that head the government. If the meeting happens it won’t be until after Sarkozy leaves India.

Meanwhile, protests continued in Punjab Friday. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) President Simranjit Singh Mann and his party other leaders protested from the Gwalior Air Force Base where the French fighter aircraft-Mirage 2000 are stationed. One of the signs asked the government to boycott French machinery, cosmetics and other goods.

“France, which has declared itself a secular country, has banned the right of the Sikh people to wear their religious, cultural and historic headwear, the turban,” he said. “Sikhs are a secular people and (French Sikhs) have the right to attend all the fixtures of any French school, whether on the playfield or in the classroom.”

Note: By Anju Kaur, Sikh News Network staff journalist
anjukaur@sikhnn.com
Gurpreet Singh, Sikh News Network staff journalist, also contributed to this report.