PM fears for Britain’s relationship with India if information about the threat British Sikh activists face is revealed

The Sikh Federation (UK) wrote to Keir Starmer on behalf of over 300 UK Sikh Gurdwaras and organisations on the 16th of November resulting in the Daily Telegraph running a story titled ‘Sikh groups accuse Starmer of ‘incompetence’ by failing to mark religious festival.’

The failure to issue a similar Gurpurb message as Justin Trudeau on the 15th of November was a gaffe that Number 10 and Keir Starmer as PM should have avoided.  

The PM is aware that the Sikh Federation wrote to senior Cabinet Office Minister, Pat McFadden on the 23rd of September and specifically asked about Number 10’s plans for Gurpurb.  

They pleaded in the letter to Pat McFadden for Keir Starmer not to make the same mistake on Gurpurb as his two Conservative predecessors, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak who were forced to apologise. 

Twenty four hours before Gurpurb Keir Starmer invited faith community representatives to an interfaith breakfast at Number 10 where the prominent Sikh representative (carrying his 3ft Kirpan) not surprisingly specifically spoke to the PM about Gurpurb. 

He said: “The Sikh community is a source of inspiration and pride, and the Prime Minister immensely values the contributions Sikhs make across the country. That’s why he was pleased to welcome members from the Sikh community to a reception in Downing Street last month to celebrate Diwali. 

He was also pleased to welcome a representative from the Sikh community to an interfaith breakfast in Downing Street earlier this month to discuss how different faiths can work together to improve lives across the country.

We will invite Sikhs for our annual Vaisakhi reception next year, and will continue to celebrate and engage with the Sikh community as we deliver on the government’s priorities.”

On November 21st, they wrote to Keir Starmer again to ask for confirmation if he would be attending tomorrow’s Gurpurb event in Parliament that would allow him to put matters right.  We have had no confirmation or an apology and suspect a Minister will be sent to speak at the Gurpurb event tomorrow.

However, the more serious matter the Daily Telegraph article touched upon was the “threat to life” warnings by British intelligence services to Sikhs in the West Midlands that we brought to the attention of Craig Guildford, the Chef Constable for the West Midlands Police.

In our latest letter on 21 November to the Prime Minister we provided additional information, including that one of the individuals warned was told by British intelligence services a person was arrested and taken into custody with a firearm outside his home in West Bromwich.

We also said there are at least two other specific cases of British Sikhs being threatened and arrested when visiting India as part of the Indian government’s transnational repression. 

In our letter to Keir Starmer we stated “political contacts in Canada have confirmed Justin Trudeau briefed you at the G20 Summit on the latest developments with respect to the allegations against the Indian government.”  

Last week a Globe and Mail Article implicated all the major leading political figures in the Indian government in the killings, threats and extortion against Sikhs in Canada.  

Thousands of Sikhs at Gurdwaras across the UK have been signing the attached letter to be sent to their MPs to raise transnational repression by the Indian government and the safety and security of Sikhs in the UK.  Dozens of MPs are expected to take up the issue with the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary with some MPs getting hundreds of letters from constituents.  

Dabinderjit Singh OBE, the Sikh Federation’s Lead Executive for Political Engagement said: “We have waited for over a week for the PM and Number 10 to respond positively to our concerns for his embarrassing oversight of a Gurpurb message, but more importantly to provide a reassurance to British Sikh activists about their safety and security.”

The only plausible reason for the deadly silence by the PM and Government Ministers on providing British Sikh activists a reassurance is they fear publicly calling out the Indian government’s transnational repression will damage Britain’s relationship with India.”

He added: “However, we are going public with what we have shared with the PM without releasing the details of the British Sikh activists who have been targeted in Britain and when visiting India.”

We are in no doubt there is a cover up by the police, intelligence services and government that we are determined to expose with the help of the media as that is the only way our safety and security will be taken seriously and addressed.”