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US lawmakers snub India to join Sikh caucus Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | May 8, 2013, 11.12 AM IST WASHINGTON: All politics is local, former US House Speaker Tip O'Neill famously declaimed to stress the principle that politicians' primary duty is to those who elected them to office. Evidently, someone forgot to write this truism in the Indian diplomatic playbook. In trying to stymie the emergence of a pro-Khalistan Sikh Congressional Caucus, New Delhi has been rudely reminded of this universal norm after two lawmakers snubbed India's plea not to join the religion-based lobby and instead signed up for it. Among them is Dr Ami Bera, the newly elected Indian-American Congressman from California, who the Indian lobby had pressed not to join theSikh caucus because of the presence of pro-Khalistani separatists in the group. In fact, Indian sources were so confident that Bera, who is also a member of the India caucus, would not join the Sikh pressure group, that they had even offered a wager on it. Indeed, the first list of Sikh caucus members did not have Bera's name in it. Apparently, they did not reckon with constituency pressure. Bera's office reached out to The Times of India on Monday to clarify that he had indeed signed up for the Sikh caucus after it was reported that he had backed off from joining. Also joining the Sikh caucus is Frank Pallone, who in fact, is one of the stalwarts of the India caucus and a one-time co-chairman, and Mike Honda, a California lawmaker who is also a member of the India Caucus. The reason for their joining the Sikh caucus ignoring Indian government sentiments is not hard to see. They have many Sikh constituents and supporters. This is particularly true in the case of Ami Bera, whose 7th Congressional district has one of the most diverse demographics in America, including a large Sikh population. Ditto for Congressman Honda, whose 17th Congressional district is in the heart of Silicon Valley. Honda in fact is locked in a fight to retain his house seat against another Indian-American Democrat Ro Khanna, who has a strong record of supporting Sikh issues and taking part in their festivities. Given such constituency and electoral exigencies faced by the lawmakers, diplomatic niceties took a back seat. Besides, if indeed the Sikh caucus is promoted by pro-Khalistan forces, there was no public sign of it at the launch, where speeches focused mainly on issues of discrimination and bias Sikhs in America face. In fact, there was a startling reminder last week of how deep-rooted racial and ethnic bias can be in 21st century America, even when Sikhs have forsworn their religion and excised all visible signs of their faith. A Democratic rival of South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (whose maiden name was Nimrata Randhawa and who was born and raised a Sikh but now identifies herself as a Christian) urged voters to send her to ''wherever the hell she came from'' in next year's election. The comment was widely seen as a racist reference to her Sikh Indian origins. The Democrat, <banned word filter activated> Harpootlian, later clarified that all he meant was that she needs to go back to being an accountant in a clothing store owned by her parents (called ''Exotica'') instead of being a governor. But it isn't the first time Haley is being attacked; in the 2010 elections, one of her opponents repeatedly referred to her as a ''raghead,'' a pejorative for those wearing a turban. Given such instances of racial slur, not to speak of the post-9/11 physical attacks on Sikhs who are often mistaken for Muslims and middle-easterners, the formation of the Sikh caucus to highlight their plight may seem perfectly legitimate. Why India flipped out at this remains a little unclear. Evidently, Indian officials were sufficiently alarmed by the influence among the Caucus backers of pro-Khalistani elements that they opposed the caucus rather than encourage nationalist Sikhs to take a greater role in it. In any case, US lawmakers do not seem particularly perturbed by the pro- and anti-Khalistan dynamics of India's immigrant population. All they care about is representing their constituents -- and getting re-elected.

Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | May 5, 2013, 08.20 AM IST WASHINGTON: Aghast at the role of pro-Khalistan elements in the launch of a Sikh Congressional Caucus last week, the Indian government has cautioned the Obama administration and US lawmakers who joined the group against helping revive what was a violent separatist affair that has largely faded away. Indian officials have been briefing US lawmakers about the almost-defunct movement and its bloody history after discovering that the principal movers of the Sikh caucus were Khalistani activists trying to revive separatist sentiments. The Indian effort to sensitize lawmakers to New Delhi's concerns began even before the launch of the caucus, but much to the Indian embassy's surprise and dismay,pro-Khalistani Sikhs succeeded in getting the caucus off the ground. In the process, they are said to have sidelined mainstream nationalist Sikhs. Some 30 US lawmakers, many of them first time legislators not aware of the violent history and background of the Khalistan issue, have signed up for the Sikh Caucus, which is believed to the first ethnic and religion-based caucus on the Hill. But what has distressed New Delhi is that signatories include veteran lawmakers such as Frank Pallone, a New Jersey democrat who has been a long-time friend of India and a leading member of the India Caucus. Indian officials surmise that Pallone and many others have been misled by the separatists into believing that they were backing a besieged group that was fighting ethnic profiling and racial discrimination, particularly after the Oak Creek shooting in Wisconsin in which a white supremacist killed six people in a Sikh Gurdwara. American Sikhs have also been fighting employment bias and discrimination in military against turbaned enlisters. While Indian officials acknowledge that many of the Sikh grievances are legitimate, they say the issues are being used as a cover for potentially reinvigorating the Khalistan movement. Although no mention was made of Khalistan at the launch of the caucus, some prime movers behind the caucus did not hide their pro-Khalistani affiliation. Indian officials are cautioning their US counterparts of such murky associations, particularly in the context of the Boston bombing in which Chechen separatist sympathisers who were seemingly integrated into American society, carried out terrorist attacks inside the US. They are concerned that unbridled Khalistani activism in the U.S could come to haunt New Delhi later on. While many of the Sikh grievances are real and deserve attention, the Indian government, currently headed by a Sikh, seems to believe these are best lobbied by the India caucus rather than a separate ethno-religious caucus. What set alarm bells ringing was the discovery that one of the principal movers of the Sikh caucus is an associate of Khalid Awan, a Pakistan-Canadian who has been convicted for providing material support and resources to the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and related terrorism charges and is serving time in a U.S prison. The same principal was also involved in a bank robbery in Ludhiana. In a little-reported trial of Awan, the US government offered recordings of his prison telephone calls to Paramjit Singh Panjwar in Pakistan, in which Awan spoke of recruiting new members for the KCF and admitted having had sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to KCF in the past. A US district court later determined that Awan's crimes were "intended to promote federal crimes of terrorism," and imposed on him a sentence of 14 years' imprisonment, which he is serving in Terra Haute, Indiana. The Indian alert is believed to have had a salutary effect on at least one lawmaker, Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera, who is said to have backed out of joining the caucus. Bera's 7th Congressional district in California surrounding Sacramento has a large Sikh population, and word among Sikh activists initially was that he would sign up. Indian officials believe many other lawmakers have joined the caucus for similar reasons in a state where there are many wealthy Sikhs, only some of who still suffer from the Khalistan hangover.