Some leaders in the Sikh community have been trying for a few years that the Sikhs be recognised as a separate ethnic minority group. But, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has not obliged. Now, Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin has taken up their cause and criticised the Commission for failing to give the Sikh community a separate status.
The MP from West Darwin said the refusal of the Commission to recognise the community's separate identity made 600,000 British Sikhs "invisible". He said: "There is something very wrong with a system where entire communities pop in and pop out of existence at the stroke and whim of a bureaucrat's pen."
The statement by Letwin appears on the face of it as one out of constituency considerations. But, most Sikh leaders believe that his concern is genuine. They said that the government needed to understand the grassroots of the Sikh community, particularly in terms of tackling social exclusion.
The Sikhs were the first to come into this country in large numbers. They suffered the problems of being from a country which was under British domination. Yet, they survived and are now a vibrant community. But, the demand for a separate identity must not be mistaken as a sort of Khalistani movement.
The CRE has clarified that the Sikhs are covered by the Race Relations Act and are as such seen as an ethnic group. The case of Mandler in 1983 established the right of the Sikhs to seek redress under the Race Relations Act. For instance, the right to wear the turban while attending school.
The CRE said that it did not regard Sikhs as invisible and had taken up number of cases on the community's behalf. The problem is that Sikhs too come from India like many other communities. If they are given a separate identity, floodgates will open. Every community from the subcontinent will then clamour for separate identity. For instance, Mirpuris from Pakistan could demand a separate identity.
The best thing for harmony will be for various communities from the subcontinent to come under the umbrella of British Asian groups, advised a social analyst.