Business deal causes dispute between local Sikhs

By Sabrina Rodriguez, Eyewitness News

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Emotions ran high outside the Guru Nanak Mission of Bakersfield Sunday morning. The Mission is one of four Sikh temples in Bakersfield.

"There's a lot of people over there that as soon as we get in (to the temple) there's going to be a melee and none of us want that," said Mission member Ajaib Gill.

On the "other-side" was Buck Dhesi, who explained why they were there. "We are here to pray at our temple. We've been praying here since 1992. They're trying to bar us," accused Dhesi.

Turns out, it's not a difference in religion or culture that's dividing these groups. "(We) are same the people," said Dhesi. "Punjabi, Sikhs, (we) belong to same religion."

The reason for the dispute appears to be political.

According to long time Bakersfield resident and Sikh Gurcharam Dhillon, two years ago, two of Bakersfield's Sikh temples, Guru Nanak Mission and Sikh Center on Planz Road, got the idea to combine their limited resources and merge into one group. "Thought was what (can we) do together for the benefit of this community. Maybe we can combine these two corporations, " explained Dhillon. "We know each other, we trust each other, we can pray together."

But Dhillon says some people didn't like the merger and that's why the disagreement began. He says a lawsuit has been filed to decide if the merger should stay.

For the most part, the disagreement has been peaceful; but that changed about a month ago when both sides started fighting with each other. According to Dhillon, the violence has been getting worse each week. It not known how bad the violence will get, but both sides agree it needs to stop.

"It hurts," Gill said about the growing conflict and how it's dividing their congregation. "If they want to come back and be a part of this temple I would love it," he said. "Come back and make things the way they were."

Dhillon adds that conflicts should not start at a temple, "That's a place people go to have peace of mind. That's where you go and pray. You don't go there with the intention to fight."

He also says there's another reason for the fighting to stop. "It's not a good image for Sikh community."

Both groups say they will let the court decide whether or not the merger stays in effect, but it's not known the lawsuit will be settled.

with thanks : source : http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/51207037.html

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How to portray Sikhs : Open letter to SGPC & DSGMC

SikhsIndia
19th July, 2009

How to portray Sikhs : Open letter to SGPC & DSGMC
We are really pleased to find the Sikh characters entering into the main stream of Bollywood. It's definitely a positive sign for the community as more & more Bollywood stars are willingly playing the Sikh characters in Indian movies & TV serials.

Sikhism is a most modern, advanced and open minded religion, but with few complexities. Panj kakkars especially the Beards & Turban are the marks of identification of a Sikh. Though like any other religion, Sikhism also has black sheeps, but it does not make any significant effect on the term called Sikhism.

Therefore, if the Bollywood concentrates on those black sheeps & portrays the Sikhs as Trimmers, it’s definitely going to hurt the sentiments of the sikh masses. Bollywood must keep restrain from these trends as being emerged now a days and must portray Sikhs with Full beards, turban and so on in the best possible manner. Another trend being shown on TV channels is of showing the Father with full turban & beards but the son as cut sird with no turban, no beards.Even some Advertisements on TV show the same trends for example KHOTA HAI PAR POTA HAI. Even some of the prominent Punjabi singers who don’t have beard or Turban, use the Khanda just to portray themselves as a Sikh. Just can’t understand that if those singers could not maintain the Saroop given by Guru Gobind Singh ji, why they still show interest in depicting themselves as a sikh.

Therefore, with this open letter to the president Shiromani gurdwara parbandhak committee as well president Delhi sikh gurdwara management committee, we hereby request to make the norms & guidelines to be followed by all the production houses of Bollywood or elsewhere so that there is no controversy as was visible on the release of BOLE SO NIHAL, SINGH IS KING and many others.

with Best regards

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‘How to portray a Sikh? Ask us’

‘How to portray a Sikh? Ask us’
ROSHNI K OLIVERA , TNN 18 July 2009, 12:11am IST


There are a number of films in Bollywood these days where heroes are playing Sikhs. Saif Ali Khan will be seen playing a Sikh in his forthcoming movie, so will Ranbir Kapoor.

But, there’s resistance coming in from the Sikh community. The Punjabi Cultural and Heritage Board is upset with the “stereotyped offensive Sikh images in Bollywood movies” and they’ve approached the Censor Board.

Says president Charan Singh Sapra, “We are representing the views and opinions of all Sikh individuals and organisations that are upset over the continuing demeaning portrayal of the Sikh character in Hindi cinema. The role of Bollywood in stereotyping Sikhs invariably touches the wrong nerve. It has been seen in various movies like Raja Hindustani, Jo Bole So Nihaal, Singh Is Kinng, Paying Guest. We have submitted a memorandum to the censor board and asked them to ensure that Sikhs are not wrongly represented in films.”

If a script demands a character to be a Sikh, then the community is more than willing to help filmmakers, Sapra adds. “We will guide them exactly how to portray a Sikh. Thus, they won’t end up hurting sentiments. In fact, our religious body in Dadar, Guru Singh Sabha, has a couple of people who have been specially assigned the task of guiding other community people who would like to know more about the religion. Filmmakers can take guidelines from our organisation. It will be a voluntary service by us.”

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ENTERTAINMENT-Bollywood-News-Interviews-How-to-portray-a-Sikh-Ask-us/articleshow/4788959.cms

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Just view this & enjoy - 111

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Just view this & enjoy - 11

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Just view this & enjoy

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Blow to Sikhs: European court upholds French turban ban

Blow to Sikhs: European court upholds French turban ban
I P Singh, TNN 18 July 2009, 04:03am IST

JALANDHAR: In a major blow to Sikhs in Europe, European Court of Human Rights has upheld French ban on turban by dismissing the first petition filed against it. France had passed a law in 2004, prohibiting religious symbols in schools.

The judgment, which came close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raising the issue with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was communicated to the lawyers of NGO United Sikhs, who had filed the petition on behalf of Jasvir Singh, on Thursday. It does not require France to respond to Jasvir's legal arguments.

Last December, the NGO had filed another petition before the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of Bikramjit Singh, who was expelled from school along with Jasvir Singh when they refused to remove their turbans. France has filed a response to Bikramjit's claim.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4791396.cms

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