WARWICK, UK—After an alleged false report by the committee of Leamington Gurdwara Sahib resulted in the arrest of 55 peaceful protesters yesterday, local and national Sikhs converged at Leamington Police Station and remained there all night until all but one of the protesters were released.
In the region of 150 members of the sangat, including women and children, were joined by Sikh leaders of the Sikh Council UK (SCUK), Federation of Sikh Organisations (FSO), Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Sikh Federation UK, Sikh2Inspire, Damdami Taksaal UK, Satkaar Committee UK, British Sikh Council, United Khalsa Dal UK, and International Panthik Dal. Amongst the congregation included a Sikh Councillor of the region, Surinder Kaur Dhesi.
They remained present until 6am this morning, when the arrested sangat members were released. There remained one more sangat member in custody, who was released later this morning.
Local Sikhs brought tea and refreshments from their homes, which were distributed to the sangat, police, and homeless, throughout the night, in a show of solidarity against the actions of the suspected committee of the Gurdwara Sahib, who appear to have alienated many in the community by falsely implicating Sikh religious attire as threatening, to the police. The false report of “mobs carrying weapons and a possible gun” led to the police declaring the report as a critical incident and deployed armed police in which they arrested peaceful protesters.
UK News outlets have continued to sensationalise yesterday’s events out of proportion, by using inflammatory language by describing a violent group with weapons, whereas the participating sangat members respectfully entered the Gurdwara Sahib and sat crossed-legged while peacefully meditating.
The Sikh Council UK, as well as other Sikh leadership organisations spoke with the Warwick Police which revealed that the Gurdwara committee had reported that spears, other weapons and possibly a gun were being used by threatening youth. The kirpans that were confiscated by the police will be released as a priority, once a review of CCTV footage and other evidence has taken place.
The Sikh Council UK, is to meet again with the police and the Home Office, to push for an investigation into the false report made by a committee member, which will need to be pursued at a serious level due to the fabricated allegation that took place.
The position of this so called Gurdwara management committee should be severely challenged by other Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations in the UK and the members who have committed this act of defamation against the kaum publicly exposed, held accountable by being made to apologise or resign. They have caused worldwide disgrace and opprobrium to be heaped upon the Sikh Panth and actually brought the very visage of the Khalsa into disrepute by allowing those who are either ignorant or plainly antagonistic in the media to use words like ‘bladed weapons’, ‘gang’, ‘armed men’, ‘siege’, ‘storm’ to foster a negative image of Sikhs. The committee’s antithetical position on allowing interfaith marriages to be performed in front of Guru Granth Sahib using the Anand Karaj ceremony was already an affront and had been banned by consensus agreement by other Gurdwaras in the UK so this tamasha is about maintaining control of the Gurdwara’s golak – more weddings allowed means more income as does providing wedding hall with options for meat and alcohol. It would perhaps be best if this committee is not prepared to admit its outrageous behaviour if the saroop of Guru Granth Sahib and Nishan Sahib are removed from this Gurdwara by a delegation of Panj Pyare from every other Gurdwara in the UK and they can then install an orange flag of their own with a few phone directories or encyclopaedias wrapped in cloth to befool their patrons and these manmukh mahant minded committee use their ‘Gurdwara’ openly as a money making clubhouse.
The Sikhs have a well established world wide code of conduct which prevents A SIkh and non SIkh marrying using the Anand Karaj wedding ceremony which was specifically created by the third and fourth Gurus of the Sikh religion for the marriage between two Sikhs. Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the eleventh and final Guru of the Sikhs (the clue is its title Guru Granth Sahib) and Sikhs are expected to behave before him in the same manner they would have done if sitting before one of the previous ten human Gurus. How then can you promise to accept and honour the prescriptions of Anand Karaj when you are not a Sikh in the first place (and therefore do not acknowledge the spiritual authority of the Guru you will be standing before and walking around during the ceremony) and do not even understand the language being spoken to you? that kind of marriage is a farce and really just makes a mockery of the Anand Karaj and Guru Granth Sahib. A Sikh can marry a non Sikh without any issue but they just cannot use the Anand Karaj ceremony in a Gurdwara. Use civil marriage and ask for a blessing in the Gurdwara if you must but don’t reduce the Anand Karaj to just some ritual that will satisfy your in-laws that you are actually married in the eyes of God (and of course line the pockets of the Gurdwara’s committee who will throw in banqueting hall where they’ll further break Sikh doctrine by allowing you to serve meat and alcohol too to your guests). Ask yourself why would you want to stand in Gurdwara and pay obesience and indicate your willingness to accept the responsibilities and obligations that Anand Karaj demands when you and others attending know perfectly well you have no sincere intention to honour such sacramental pledges. You have reduced the Anand Karaj to some meaningless ritual and Guru Granth Sahib to just some holy book when it is far more than that to SIkhs who indeed treat it with respect and reverence to the point of treating him as if he were a human being (put to bed at night and raised in the morning and dressed with cloth each day). Sikhs are duty bound to protest such sacrilege and they did so peacefully sitting down and standing around – they are Sikhs and are perfectly entitled to be on Gurdwara premises carrying kirpans (being reported mischievously as bladed weapons when they are in fact ceremonial swords and daggers which as Sikhs they are mandated to carry at all times and which British law accepts for them to do as part of their religious obligation). Every single Gurdwara in the world has bladed weapons (kirpans) on public display so this is a non issue being used to sensationalise this story along with the words ‘mob’ and ‘storm’. No one forces you to be a Sikh (and Sikhs do not believe they have a monopoly on God so a Jew, Christian and Muslim have as much chance of of spiritually realising Him as a Sikh does) and there is is no punishment for leaving the Sikh religion to follow another religious faith so why do you want Sikhism’s principles and doctrinal teachings to be undermined and contravened? Shame on this committee