The incident comes amid a diplomatic row between India and Canada following Justin Trudeau’s claim alleging India’s possible involvement in killing of Nijjar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday reacted strongly after the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, was allegedly denied entry to a gurudwara in Scotland’s Glasgow. According to a purported video posted on the Instagram channel of ‘Sikh Youth UK’, a man, reportedly a pro-Khalistani activist, was seen blocking Doraiswami from entering the Glasgow gurdwara on Albert Drive.
Reacting to the incident BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “I strongly condemn this (that Vikram Doraiswami was allegedly stopped from entering a gurdwara in Scotland). Anyone from any religion or community can come here (gurdwara). We are not that religion that believes in violence instead we are among those who are saviours of humanity. Sikhs are the saviours. PM Modi has praised the work of our community. Sikhs are represented everywhere in the world. The safest place for the Sikhs in the world is in India….”
“They are hurting Sikhs in Canada and other places, every Sikh should protest against any Indian Ambassador like we did here in Glasgow,” the protestor is reportedly heard saying in the video.
Meanwhile, news agency ANI, citing sources, said the issue has been raised with the UK foreign office and also the police.
The video also features two men near the diplomat’s car in the parking. One of them is seen attempting to open the car door, which was locked from the inside. It further shows the high commissioner’s car leaving the gurudwara premises.
According to a media report, Doraiswami had a meeting planned with the gurdwara committee of the Glasgow Gurdwara.
The incident comes amid a diplomatic tension between India and Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim alleging India’s possible involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India strongly rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
Earlier this year, a violent protest broke out outside the Indian high commission in London during which a pro-Khalistan activist clambered onto a balcony and pulled down the national flag from a pole at the front of the building. In a retaliatory move, security barricades and vehicles were removed from outside the British high commission and high commissioner residence in New Delhi in response to the lack of security at the Indian high commission in London.
