LONDON: Two Indian flags were set ablaze and then stamped on during a “remembrance march and freedom rally” by British Sikhs in London on Sunday to mark the anniversary of Operation Blue Star.
The Indian high commission said it was “extremely concerned and distressed” by what happened and vowed it would take action against those who desecrated the Tricolour.
Midway through the rally that converged on Trafalgar Square, a man in black with a scarf covering his face threw a large Tricolour on the ground and nonchalantly set it alight with a lighter.
He then used a spray so that the flames ran high.
Once it was reduced to ashes, he got another flag burnt it as some of the bystanders shouted “Khalistan Zindabad”.
Two police officers came over once both flags were gutted, and the culprit poured some water from a bottle over whatever remained of them.
One of the cops picked up the remnants of the flags and left.
A spokesman for Metropolitan Police said he wasn’t “specifically aware of any flag being burnt” and that nobody had been arrested.
The officer pointed out that setting flags alight was, in any case, not a criminal offence in Britain.
Five Khalsa Sikhs dressed in traditional attire, and with their swords drawn, had led the march of hundreds from Wellington Arch to Trafalgar Square.
Khalistan T shirts and sweaters were on sale for £10 (Rs 1,000) and £20 (Rs 2,000) each at the venue.
Large banners celebrated Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the central figure of the armed Khalistan movement that had led to the June 1984 Army operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
“It is important the next generation knows about this,” said a Sikh woman selling sweaters.
Some of those marching carried yellow Khalistan flags and a few wore “Punjab Referendum 2020” T-shirts.
Those that TOI spoke to said they were not just protesting Operation Blue Star, but also the continued detention of Scottish Sikh Jagtar Singh Johal in India, as well as the extradition request for three other British Sikh men in connection with conspiracy-to-murder charges.
A spokesperson for the Indian high commission told TOI: “We have taken note of the people who were there trying to desecrate the flag and we will take action.
We were also surprised to see that the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) were present.
The numbers who turned up were far less than in previous years, which demonstrates that they are failing to muster enough support for Khalistan, besides the continual failure of the whole movement.” Jay Singh, a 39-year-old from London at the rally, said, “Burning a flag is a minor thing compared to the people who have died at the farmers’ protests…We all have family and land back in India and they don’t have equal rights.
Everyone here has family who has been picked up or gone missing in Punjab.
We just want equal rights.
Burning the flag is people’s emotions coming out against the establishment.” Dawinderpal Singh of the Sikh Press Association, dressed in Nihang attire, said, “1984 was about the oppression of Sikhs and Sikhs continue to be treated as second class citizens and so 37 years later we still have an uphill battle against the Indian government.
If you look at Bhindranwale’s speeches it was all about being able to speak Punjabi in Punjab and grow the crops we want and if what he said is still relevant today.”