By Jasveer Singh | Baaz | Britain |
Video footage discovered by the Sikh Federation UK showed UK Home Secretary Priti Patel claiming “Sikh separatist extremism has also caused considerable tensions” in Britain, speaking at a Heritage Foundation event in November 2021. The baseless claim was said as Patel discussed potential terror threats to the British public. Here Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh explains why 150 Sikh organizations have now come together to demand Patel be sacked.
Never before has any individual become the focus of a campaign that has united so many within the UK Sikh community as Priti Patel has done.
From public support for the RSS, to helping the Indian government attempt to extradite three British Sikhs, Patel is clearly aligned with anti-Sikh efforts and her reign as the UK Home Secretary for the Conservative Party proves it.
The disdain much of the UK Panth has for Patel is not unique to Sikhs.
Her role in the Windrush scandal has made her very unpopular among the British Caribbean community. Her callous take on dealing with refugees has upset various groups. And her actions against women’s protests have left her with little support even among her own gender.
Yet, the over 150 organisations that have co-signed a Sikh Federation UK letter demanding Patel be sacked for her comments on so-called “Sikh separatist extremism” highlights a particularly strong concern among UK Sikhs about her ability to damage the community.
The letter itself is unequivocal in its demands regarding Patel, stating she has “warped” views of British Sikhs, and that she is “conflicted” due to her “connections and appreciation of the right-wing BJP government”.
Many would say the Sikh campaign against Patel has been a long time coming.
Sikhs were initially galvanized against Patel after her open praise for the HSS, a UK branch of famously anti-Sikh Hindutva group the RSS, in 2014. An ITV News documentary which exposed the promotion of “hatred and extremist views” of the HSS a year after Patel’s open letter of support to them only reaffirmed these concerns among Sikhs, especially given the gleeful way she fronted a government welcoming party for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. However, the threat of these connections still did not seem to register with the general British public as much as it did with Sikhs.
Read the full story, ‘Jasveer Singh: Priti Patel’s Problematic History Of Anti-Sikh Activities (Baaz, 9 Feb 2022), here.
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