Over the last week or so, several Labour bloggers, myself included, have openly warned the Tories that their ham-fisted ‘any vote will do’ campaign strategy in Ealing Southall was likely to draw the unwelcome attention of militant Khalistani nationalists, and sure enough our predictions have proved correct with the release of two nakedly-communalist smear videos posted under the account name ‘no2sharmalabour’, one of which concludes with this image, which one would assume has been used entirely without the approval of Tony Lit or the Conservative Party.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ietfdDRT1rQ[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdufptbE9f8[/youtube]
The source of these videos can hardly be in much doubt, given that the second video includes a number of ‘questions’ identical to those being posted on a number of Sikh forums, and in comments on several blogs (as here on Pickled Politics) by members of the Sikh Federation, which amongst other things, actively campaigns against the current proscription of the International Sikh Youth Federation by the UK government under the Terrorism Act 2000, and which was identifed by the Times as having been involved in the Behtzi riot in Birmingham in 2004.
The Sikh community fears that its reputation has been tarnished by the trouble at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which led to the play Behzti (Dishonour) being abandoned.
The Times has learnt that members of the Sikh Federation were among the demonstrators on Saturday night. The group was formed in the aftermath of the banning of the International Sikh Youth Federation under the Terrorism Act 2000. The ISYF is committed to the creation of an independent Sikh state in India and, according to the Foreign Office, has been involved in assassinations, bombings and kidnappings, mainly directed against Indian officials and interests.
The Sikh Federation maintains that it is separate from the ISYF, with a new constitution and an agenda of promoting Sikh interests in Britain. It said that strict disciplinary arrangements would apply to the members who brought the organisation into disrepute “by working outside the legitimate activities of the organisation”. It added: “The ultimate sanction against a member will be expulsion.”…
…Sewa Singh Mandla, the chairman of the council of Sikh Gurdwaras in Birmingham who organised the campaign against the play, said he was dismayed that it had been dropped in the face of the weekend violence. He said that, as the play received more media attention, a host of organisations were jostling to become involved. “The Sikh Federation is just jumping on the bandwagon,” Mr Mandla said.
“They are a group of militant people who just want to stir up problems around us.”
(The ISYF is also proscribed in India, the US and Canada)
Despite its claims to be an entirely separate organisation, the Indian government continues to allege that the Sikh Federation is a ‘front’ for the banned ISYF.
Indian concerns include the allegation that the vigil’s organiser, the Sikh Federation (UK), is a front organisation for a British-proscribed terrorist group, the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). The Sikh Federation has always denied the charge.
Although it seems highly unlikely that the Tories will welcome this latest public endorsement of Tony Lit, its source and content will come as yet more embarrassment for the Tory campaign in Ealing Southall and a further blow to efforts to cultivate cross-community appeal for its candidate, Tony Lit, who seems to be increasing becoming bogged down in unfortunate headlines, and associations.
There is also the question of whether the content of this video breaches electoral law covering the making of false statements regarding candidates, one suspects it does, in which case one would also expect the Tories to move quickly (and quite rightly) to disassociated Lit and themselves from both the video and those behind it.
One would hope that Tories will take a tough line on a very obvious misuse of its intellectual property, one that to some local voters may give the (false) impression that the Tories are themselves indulging in naked communalism and the stirring of inter-community tensions in their search for votes, while a certain Tory blogger might wish to think twice in future before offering approving commentaries on the output of the Sikh Federation, and do a little more checking of backgrounds and provenance before quoting their material.
To the Author.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE, Some URGENT action needs to be taken against these Fanatic Racist SIKHS. they are just as bad as Islam fanatics
Mr Gurcharan Singh is a staunch Khalistani – SIKH FANATIC and has has encouraged and help create a new younger generation of Fanatic type of Khalistanis amongst the Sikh youth.
Extremist sites like http://www.sikhsangat.com – sikh politics section, and http://www.saintsoldiers.net, http://www.carnage84.com, http://www.tapoban.org and extremist videos regarding Khalistan show the new wave of anti Indian India, fanatical type Khalistani Sikh , he has helped spawn and encouraged.
Good riddance to this Extremist who pretends to be there for the good of the community
Yes its important that the authorities keep an eye on this growing fanatacism amongst today sikhs.
They could very well be the new muslim fanatics of the future.
People in repsonsible positions politically should be more careful.
Gurcharan Singh was a joke
To the Author, excellent article.
These Sikh fantaics are extremely dangerous and just like Muslim fanatics.
Sumthing needs to be done about them
Mr Gurcharan Singh is a staunch Khalistani ( Sikh fanatic) and has encouraged and help create a new younger generation of Fanatic type of Khalistanis amongst the Sikh youth.
Extremist sites like http://www.sikhsangat.com – sikh politics section, and http://www.saintsoldiers.net, http://www.carnage84.com and extremsit videos regarding Khalistan show the new wave of anti Indian India, fanatical type Khalistani Sikh , he has helped spawn and encouraged.
Good riddance to this Extremist who pretends to be there for the good of the community
Yes its important that the authorities keep an eye on this growing fanatacism amongst today sikhs.
They could very well be the new muslim fanatics of the future.
People in repsonsible positions politically should be more careful.
Gurcharan Singh was a joke
Mr Author, I suggest you check the listed sites out as you will see that they actually promote nothing but HATE, PRPOGANDA, and a new WAVE of EXTREMIST SIKHS.
http://WWW.SIKHSANGAT.COM – SIKH POLITICS SECTION , THREAD HEADLINED PIARA KHABRA.
YOU WILL SEE HOW THESE SIKHS – FANATICS, make fun a of a dead man,Piar Khabra just because he didnt supprt their Fascist extremist views???
You will also see how they are openly agaisnt Virendra sharma because HE IS A HINDU, Yet they know nothing of his policies!!!
They ignorantly refer to Mr Sharma in a racist way calling him a Bahman( slurr on the word Brahmin).
also check out http://www.saintsoldiers.net, http://www.tapoban.com/org, http://www.jattworld,com, http://www.waheguroo.com – miri piri section.
The new terrorsits of the future are the Sikh Khalsitanis who will be giving the muslim fanatics a run for their money.
there are too particualrly racist fanatics on http://www.sikhsangat.com – Sikh politics section, from Southall and Hayes – calling themsleves Sarpanch and Militant Singh ( inspired by gurcharan perhaps asn they keep posting asking people to vote for him, and making racist slurrs).
Serious action needs to eb taken by the Police and authorities agaisnt these racists!!
These sikh fanatic sites are the result of corrupt politicians influencing youngsters throught the medium of gurdwaras, just like muslim maulwis influence the muslim youth.
Mr Sharma a memeber of the RSS ?? I doubt it. these peolle on these sites making unfounded allegations to rile up Sikhs against him.
Why becuse they didnt get a turbaned candidate??? What happend to policy being important?
the authorites should definitley intervene.
http://www.tapoban.org/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=118047&t=118047
Excellent work Unity. You know I support you and have done since you started posting on this subject.
I hope you will also treat the attempts to slander all Sikhs in the above postings with the objectivity they require. He comes across a a communalist himself and seems not to be able to differentiate between these individual groupings and Sikhs as a whole. In fact his rhetoric is just as inflammatory as the Khalistanis.
The Sikh Federation really is a morally grubby and nasty two faced organisation.
its true that mr sharama is a hindu extremist and he is with the rss.iam labour party member but still its true we cant deny the facts he is wat he is.
Ramnath — why don’t you give your full details when making allegations like this? I believe it is because you are a troublemaking slanderer using the anonymity of the internet to make these contentious and communalist inspired allegations. I don’t believe your name is Ramnath. I believe you are a bigot. You can disprove this by giving your name and details when making these allegations in public. If not, you are to be considered a bigot and communalist slanderer.
listen iam hindu and mr sharama goes to the same temple as me ,mr sharama is not the do goder you people are portraying him to be.he openly believes in the caste system,you ask him your self if you don’t believe me,he also has contacts with rss uk .i am labour but mr sharama does not stand for labour values.end of story.
jai ram je ke
Give your name and contact details and make them public. You sound and read like a communalist bigot involved in these slander campaigns. If you have accusations to make against him have the guts to make your name and contact details public. Your sub-literate grammar and spelling and paranoid fevered communalist raving makes you seem like one of those communalist fanatics from sikhsangat.com. You and your agenda should be treated with the contempt you deserve.
i got two words for mr sharama and labour party.
caste system .after all he is a brahmin.don’t ask me ask him.
ramnath — you interact as ‘sarpanch’ on sikhsangat.com, don’t you? Well you are nothing but a pure and unadulterated bigot and fanatic. Spreading your stench on internet message boards is and always will be the summit of your achievment — you have as much relevance as a gnat.
Sukhi and Guru,
I think that you both need to calm down and look at things more intelligently.
Try this blog for a start:
http://playingagainstthespin.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/11/
Most facts in the video are true ,as I went today to the IWA and asked on of its members wheather he did hand out laddoos after operation bluestar,they guy who i asked just said that does not concern him,or the party,so why did they choose Sharma?
Jigowats — I am always calm when I repudiate Khalistani hothead extremists and bigots.
The Hindustani RSS/VHP and pro-indian congress party state terrorism govt organisations need to be brought under close scrutiny. The Sikhs pose no threat to UK mainland interests, in fact they defended the UK from nazi germany tyanny in both world wars. 80,000 Sikhs sacrificed their lives for the British empire. What did hindu’s contribute? Nothing worthy of mention in the history books.
The UK owes Sikhs a very big debt
1) For war efforts
2) For the partition of the sikh homeland punjab into islamic pakistan and hindu indian union.
If anything the British authorities need to think very carefully where their moral compass lies, because Sikhs have very long memories.