Another day, another Downing Street drama. This time No. 10 is in trouble with the British Sikh community after it transpired its social media accounts failed to acknowledge the religious festival of Gurpurb last week. Now over 300 Sikh groups have addressed a scathing letter to the Prime Minister, blasting Sir Keir Starmer’s blunder as ‘indefensible’. Oh dear…
While the social media accounts of world leaders and political organisations – including the Labour party itself – marked the 555th birthday of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak, from Downing Street there was nothing but deafening silence. The rather unimpressed community has now come together to slam the PM’s slip-up, with Sikh Federation leader Dabinderjit Singh fuming about the government’s ‘show of incompetence’ on the matter. In the letter to Starmer, he raged:
When you were the leader of the Opposition you put out excellent Gurpurb messages, but [this] oversight will be seen by many in the Sikh community that our community is being taken totally for granted now you are in power.
Shots fired! Singh went on to warn the PM of electoral consequences, claiming there would be thousands of Sikh constituents who ‘will find it impossible to defend your oversight as PM by not putting out a message on Gurpurb and reassuring the Sikh community about their safety and security’. He noted ominously: ‘A public apology for forgetting the Gurpurb of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and a promise that the same mistake will not to be repeated will simply not be good enough.’ Ouch.
It’s not the first time Sir Keir’s crowd has been careless on the cultural front. Strict observers of Diwali – the Hindu ‘festival of lights’ – do not consume alcohol during the occasion, while the majority of Hindu communities will only eat vegetarian food. Yet just weeks ago Steerpike revealed that No. 10 had opted to serve, um, both alcohol and meat at this year’s big Diwali bash, much to the chagrin of Hindu attendees. Downing Street eventually apologised for the mix up – but only after days of furious criticism in the Indian and British press.
If there’s anything the last few months of Labour government has demonstrated, it’s that Starmer’s army can’t seem to get anything right…
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