SGPC Demands Action Against US designer Company for Hurting Sikh Sentiments

AMRITSAR SAHIB—Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has taken serious note of a US-based designer company which has printed images of Sri Harmandir Sahib, commonly known as the Golden Temple, and Sikh Gurus, on its products, including undergarments. The supreme Sikh body has demanded the US Government to take necessary action against the firm, and immediately impose a ban on it.

Cafe Press is a privately owned firm which allows users to sell their designs imprinted on a wide variety of products.  Cafe Press makes revenue by taking a portion out of the sale, it does not however always sell its own products.  In this particular complaint, a Punjabi named Balraj Rakhra had published his designs on a set of questionable products.  Two out of the four products which included Sikh emblems imprinted on undergarments have been removed by Cafe Press so far.  In past, similar complaints have been made and the company has taken action by removing those listings.

 

Unaware of the Cafe Press selling platform, Avtar Makkar, president of SGPC, said the firm’s move has injured the sentiments of the Sikh community across the world, and the US Government must initiate legal action against it. He said that this insulting act of the company cannot be forgiven, or forgotten. “The US government should withdraw, and ban, all products being manufactured by this company,” he stated, while appealing to Sikhs, and members of other communities, to boycott all products of Cafe Press.

He said the SGPC would resort to legal recourse to get these products banned. He alleged that the company had used sketches of the Sri Harmandir Sahib, the holiest Sikh shrine, and of the Sikh Gurus on products like t-shirts, and even slippers. In addition, he said Sikh religious symbols like the khanda were also displayed on some of its products.

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