Create awareness about Sikhs in US: Sukhbir Badal to Sushma Swaraj

SAD president said all Indian embassies and high commissions in the United States could work in tandem to create awareness about the religion and its tenets so that its followers did not become targets of hate crimes.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to make efforts to create awareness about the Sikh religion in the wake of recent death threats to America’s first Sikh mayor Ravinder Bhalla.

Sukhma Swaraj and Sukhbir Singh Badal. (HT Photo)

In a statement here, the SAD president said all Indian embassies and high commissions in the United States could work in tandem to create awareness about the religion and its tenets so that its followers did not become targets of hate crimes.

“Though a lot has been done in this regard, it seems we need to do more as Sikhs are still being misunderstood in the United States. The SAD will also contribute to this effort,” he said.

He condemned white supremacists who had issued death threats to New Jersey’s Hoboken city mayor Ravinder Bhalla. He said it was unfortunate that earlier also Bhalla was targeted as a “terrorist” during his campaign for the mayor’s office.