Paul Uppal MP Advises Gurdwara on Discriminatory Seating Issue, Wolverhampton UK

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Paul Uppal, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West.

WOLVERHAMPTON, UK—It has emerged that a letter from Paul Uppal, Member for Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West, was sent to Balbir Singh, President of the Management Committee at Wolverhampton’s Sedgley Street Gurdwara, in relation to an ongoing dispute regarding appropriate seating inside the Darbar Sahib (main hall).

The letter, sent in May this year, was followed by a similar letter of concern from Pat McFadden, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East. Both expressed the concerns of their constituents over the Gurdwara committee’s treatment of elderly and disabled members of the sangat (congregation).

It appears that, following the removal of seating inside the Darbar Sahib in 2012, as per Sikh customs, members of the sangat who had difficulty sitting on the floor took up the issue with the committee. What followed was a long dispute over the establishing of appropriate seating for these members of the sangat.

After much pressure, the Gurdwara committee made the decision to put benches at the back of the Darbar Sahib only for its elderly and disabled members. However, a screen was quickly erected in front of the benches; an action which has been seen as an attempt to segregate the sangat, not affording them the same right to sit equally and worship in the Darbar Sahib in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Others feel that this is the best way to accommodate those disabled Sikhs while still upholding the sanctity and respect afforded to Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

In his letter, Paul Uppal highlighted the concern of the sangat and expressed the view that the action of segregating elderly and disabled members of the congregation from the rest of the sangat is discriminatory according to him, and that said members feel that their needs and priorities have not been taken into consideration by the Management Committee.

The action of the committee, Uppal continued, does not comply with national legislation set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Act 2010. The Gurdwara committee is, therefore, urged to review their decision to have separate seating areas for the sangat, who hope to see comfortable seating implemented in the Darbar Sahib and the langar hall (community kitchen).

He did not seem to take into consideration Sikh religious norms and values, in which all are expected to sit equally on the floor. Those who can’t should be best accommodated, but most Sikhs are of the mind frame that this is best left up to individual Sikhs and their sangat. While the Gurdwara committee may desire to maintain an ideal of equality for all members of sangat sitting equally on the floor in the Darbar Sahib, elderly and disabled members of the sangat have been distressed with their decision to segregate those who are unable to sit on the floor. The committee are now called on to come to a decision so that all requirements of the sangat are met.

Gurdwaras around the world are met with the same challenges and this may be a wider discussion than just a single Gurdwara in a single country. Many gurdwaras have solved this problem in a variety of ways such as building benches into the back wall and running the carpet from the floor up over the benches, raising the floor of the hall and having a space with benches below floor level so that the disabled are sitting at the same level as everyone else, having a glassed off area with benches lower, or having a separate room with a video screen. Those gurdwaras who have chosen to ignore the issue end up with elderly scrounging for milk crates to sit on.

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