Tale of Politics and Beadbi at Bradford Gurdwara

 

Bradford, UK—About 80 peaceful Sikh protesters, young and old, went to Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara on Saturday on the 19th of July. The issue has been 6 mixed marriages that have been booked at the Gurdwara.

The President of the Gurdwara, Ranbir Rai, was informed about the Akal Thakht hukamnama. However, he has defiantly been speaking against the hukamnama on stage at the Gurdwara, requesting sangat to stand up against those who speak in favor of the Akal Thakht hukamnama, which has led to many conflicts among sangat at the Gurdwara. 

Today the protesters were very peaceful when speaking with police and the families involved. The groom accepted to do Sukhmani Sahib instead of doing Anand Karaj. However the president, Ranbir Rai, convinced the groom to do the Anand Karaj. Many Sikhs find it disappointing that Ranbir Rai acted in what they see as a mischievous way, when a clear resolution to the situation was achievable.

One Singh had a camera, which was snatched from him by committee members of the Gurdwara. The Sangat protesting started doing simran, but were given abuse by the committee members.

Tensions have now increased. The Sangat protesting then left the site to ensure no trouble which would give Sikhs and the Gurdwara a bad name could occur. However, the issue of further inter-faith marriages in Bradford, particularly supported by Ranbir Rai, may lead to more scenes like today.

8 COMMENTS

  1. This is absolutely disgusting. If any of these “Sikhs” knew anything about the teaching of the Gurus they would know that;

    1. We ALL started as Hindus and Muslims in India and before those religions existed, what were we? Human…

    2. Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught us that we are ALL on the SAME path to the SAME Lord (Waheguru) via different means. So in truth, we are all Sikhs, just going about it in different ways.

    3. Guru Ji told us to love all as equals. If we’re all equal then why is this even an issue?

    My parents were married in this Gurdwara and I will happily admit that I am proud my mother’s name is Karen. I am more a Sikh than any of these protestors will ever be, evil people. This is a lot like the idea of the supreme Aryan race was to the Nazis.

  2. Dear Sikh brother / sister,

    It saddens me that a minority feel it in their right to protest outside a gurdwara and tarnish the Sikh community this way…. Sikhi stands for truth and this protest and the details provided above do not reflect what really happened. First of all they said it was a muslim was getting married, this was a lie….. then they say it was peaceful, but yet they were shouting, running up to the groom and threating him, antagonizing the giani, making demands in an intimidating way…. is this ‘sikhi’ is this not disrespectful to our Guru’s I ask… then they wanted to come into the gurdawara to continue there shouting…. inside the gurdwara? how is that in the interest of sikhi……. This has become a social media attack, a personal attack to the Gurdwara committee with all disregard to sikhi….I too believe in the direction given to us by the Akaal Takht but we have no right as human beings to disrespect sikhi and any innocent people in the process…. I have no affiliation to the committee but was there as a witness to the events… all I ask is to end this tamasha and promote some dialogue within the Sikh community rather than to start posting lies on social media which will send the wrong message to our youngsters….. I therefore request that this article is removed……

  3. Sikhism based upon family & social sense. Love, Love Marriage, Live-in-Relationships, gayism isn’t part of Sikhism. If these people doesn’t care about our social values, traditions or religion, why they has to come to Gurudwara to get merry, just enjoy their Western corporate junk creation of criminal minded civilization design to kill family or social sense set to fail human being.

  4. There are no mixed marriages at the Guru Gobind Temple register. These are fabrications made by fanatics who were removed from the temple 10 years ago and set up their own temple. There was no peaceful protest either. My family has been attending the above Tempke for years, these fanatics do not like the fact that we now have peace. The fanatics have taken control of another temple, Guru Nanak Dev ji temple Wakefield road in Bradford. The sangat now attend Guru Gobind Singh Sikh temple. Sikhi is open to all, we dont discriminate, but fanayics do. We believe in one God and one race , the human race, regardless of what members of other faiths do we should stay true to our humanity values.
    Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh

  5. The gudwara has done nothing wrong I am a singh who goes to this gudwara very frequently and it was made clear no future mixed marriages would take place. Marriages that were already booked in were to be allowed and then this was to be phased out in future for only sikh weddings no mixed faith. It was quite clear the singh with the camera was acting defiantly he was told by the police to put the camera down however he took this opportunity to cause conflict. Please stop bad mouthing a gudwara this is considered paap in my eyes. This all started from false accusations that there would be Muslims allowed to marry this is false and i was bemused to hear this fantasy. This was clearly rumours made up my opposing parties that felt sour after losing in the latest eviction. Ranbir Rai has acted courageously on this matter. And he has done a lot for the gudwara acquiring land close by to stop slaughter houses he is all about growth of sikhi. Articles like this slander the gudwara and give the gudwara a bad name. If you are to write anything please write positive things and if you can’t this simply means you know nothing about this gudwara.

  6. dirty tactics on both sides – the Protesters actually put a word out on the internet and texts that a Muslim boy was marrying a Sikh girl. Which is why protesters turned up in the first place. The boy was in fact born to a Sikh father and white mother and who had lived with his father since teen years. He was marrying a white women but as a Sikh wanted to have a Sikh Wedding. His wife was also willing to accept Sikh way of life and accept Sikhism as much as her in laws had – which was go to Gurdwara every Sunday.

    Guru Gobind Singh says that we should know the whole human race to be one, this edict baring non Sikhs from marriage and blessings from Guru Granth Sahib ji is in contradiction with the hukm of Guru Gobind Singh.

    Sikhs are slowly becoming like islamic shariah law style closed door racists.

    so it seems that it is OK for alcohol drinking and smoking punjabis to get married in a Gurdwara. But if a vegetarian, non smoking respectful white person or mixed race Sikh wants blessings of Guru Granth Sahib ji they can not?

  7. When one or both of the couple have no idea of what the etiquette at a Gurdwara is, it results in wedding guests perforing beadbi at Gurdwaras, where do you think this lady stores her cigarettes, probaly her handbag, do you think she left her handbag outside or took it inside the Gurdwara. Too many Punjabis and not enough Gursikhs managing Gurdwaras.

  8. Unless they are only marrying [Amritdhari] Sikhs then there really isn’t an issue. A Sikh in name only (not practicing) is just the same as one with no faith or a different faith. Why do people marrying out of faith find they need to be married in a Gurudwara? Can they not just be married at the registry office. Generally speaking this Ranbir Rai should not be present as he is obviously promoting inter-faith marriages, when Sikhs should be teaching their young about Sikhi, mixing with other Sikh family and having their Sikh sob/daughter marrying someone else of the Sikh faith. The community and the Gurudwara committee need to be working together to help steer the Sikh youth back to Sikhi and not promoting marriage outside our faith. The Gurudwara in question obviously needs a new President to enable this to happen.
    S.Kaur

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