AMRITSAR SAHIB—SGPC President Avtar Makkar while expressing concerns over a recent study conducted in the United States shared news that the Punjab based Gurdwara Management Committee is going to establish a base in California, USA. The study conducted by Stanford University and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) found that over 49 percent of Americans are ignorant of the Sikh faith and consider Sikhi a sect of Islam.
This is not the first time SGPC has desired to operate out of California. In the past, the SGPC tried to open a printing press to provide saroops of Guru Granth Sahib. The SGPC had also tried to take over a Gurdwara located very close to the White House in Washington, D.C. but this plan was never successful. The Gurdwara management was said to have a debt of over 1 million dollars.
This time, the SGPC has announced that a central place would be inaugurated over a 14 acre land parcel with the mission of spreading awareness of the Sikhs. SGPC President Avtar Makkar is scheduled to visit California along with four other senior SGPC members. The SGPC will be conducting meetings with members of California’s Sikh community and discussing the project in details.
While the SGPC has already starting planning for this project, it is important to note that SGPC President Avtar Makkar does not enjoy a big following in California. Many Gurdwaras in the past have refused to allow Makkar to speak from their stages due to various India-based politics. If Avtar Makkar is to lead this project himself, it may sideline a greater part of the Californian Sikh community which opposes the Akali Dal and BJP Government in Punjab.
While US Sikhs welcome SGPC’s attempts to raise awareness of the Sikh religion in the United States, many feel the SGPC needs to play a bigger role in countries such as a Germany, France and Belgium where Sikhs are being denied very basic human rights of adhering to their Sikh identity. The SGPC has not provided much assistance to Sikhs living in Europe and its efforts to revert the dastar ban have been hollow.
