NOV 28, 2023 :During a visit to a gurdwara in New York over the weekend, India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, was heckled. An American Sikh body has denounced this behaviour and called on the shrine’s administration to take firm measures against those responsible. Sikhs of America said in a statement released on Monday that gurdwaras are houses of worship and shouldn’t be associated with any particular political viewpoint. On the occasion of Gurpurab, Sandhu prayed on Sunday at the Hicksville gurdwara in Long Island, New York. Videos of the incident that are making the rounds on social media show him being heckled and asked questions about Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Canada in June of this year, by a group of supporters of the movement, at the gurdwara. Members of the Sikh community escorted the hecklers out. President Kanwaljit Singh Soni and founder Jasdip Singh Jassee of Sikhs of America issued a joint statement saying, “We urge the management of the Gurdwara Sahib to take strict actions against these miscreants so that peace-loving Sikh Community in New York can come to gurdwaras freely without any fear or pressure.” “When Ambassador Sandhu visited the Gurdwara Sahib for prayer, the administration gave him a Saropa Sahib in recognition of his visit. Following that, a few miscreants attempted to offend him and disrupt the sacredness and tranquilly of the Gurdwara Sahib. According to the statement, gurdwaras are houses of worship and shouldn’t be associated with any particular political ideology.“Sikhs of America, the leading Sikh organisation in the USA, strongly condemns the disrespect of a Sikh devotee, Ambassador of India to USA Taranjit Singh Sandhu in a Gurdwara in Long Island, NY yesterday,” it read. Despite the impression that Khalistanis were against Sandhu, he was welcomed with open arms at the Gurdwara in Hicksville. During his address, Sandhu—who was joined by the consul general of India in New York, Randhir Jaiswal, and the deputy consul general, Varun Jeph—highlighted the expansion of the alliance between the US and India in the fields of healthcare, energy, IT, new and developing technologies, semiconductors, and education. The Indian envoy also discussed the historical connections between Afghanistan, Sikhs, and Sikh Gurus. He mentioned that Afghan Sikhs have demonstrated how to overcome hardships. He mentioned that in August 2021, following the Taliban’s capture of the war-torn nation, three Saroops of the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib were transported from Kabul to Delhi.
