Why was Indian envoy to UK Vikram Doraiswami stopped from entering Scotland Gurdwara? Sikh leader responds

SGPC General Secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal has responded to the incident where Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami was stopped from entering the Glasgow Gurdwara. While speaking to news agency ANI, Grewal said that people of England, are upset with the illegal arrest of Jaggi Johal.

“People of England, they are upset with the illegal arrest of Jaggi Johal. That is the reason all of this is happening… We want to ask the Indian Embassy that any kind of tension should not be created… If something like this has happened with an ambassador in a Gurdwara, it affects the reputation of Sikhs…” he remarked.

“Earlier, an ambassador was beaten, we don’t support it… The reputation of Sikhs is affected all over the world…There is no restriction on entering any Gurdwara. But I don’t know what their reasons were. To avoid any tensions created because of his (Vikram Doraiswami) visit, they must have stopped him…” he added.

According to a purported video posted on the Instagram channel of ‘Sikh Youth UK,’ a man reportedly a pro-Khalistani activist was seen blocking Doraiswami from entering the Glasgow Gurdwara on Albert Drive. “…They are hurting Sikhs in Canada and other places, every Sikh should protest against any Indian Ambassador like we did here in Glasgow," a man is heard saying in the video as reported by ANI.

The video showed two men near the High Commissioner’s car in the parking area. One of them was seen attempting to open the car door, which has been locked from the inside. The purported video then shows the high commissioner’s car leaving the Gurdwara premises.

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“We know what games they are playing, what’s happening in Canada. The Canadian PM has openly condemned India and expelled Indian diplomats," he said in the video as reported by news agency ANI.

First reported by TOI, a pro-Khalistan activist told the daily that the Indian High Commissioner was supposed to hold a meeting with the gurdwara committee of the Glasgow Gurdwara on Albert Drive. “A few people turned up and told him he is not welcome and he left. There was a slight confrontation. I don’t think the gurdwara committee is too happy about what happened. But Indian officials are not welcome in any gurdwara in the UK," the activist told TOI as reported by ANI.

“We are fed up with the UK-India collusion. The recent tensions since the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing have led to British Sikhs being targeted. This is to do with Avtar Singh Khanda and Jagtar Singh Johal too," he added.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa strongly condemned the incident and said that Sikhs are not that religion that believes in violence instead they are among those who are saviours of humanity.

Meanwhile, the incident came amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on 18 June. The ‘Sikh Youth UK’ claimed that there is an ongoing ban on Indian officials visiting the gurdwara in their official capacities.