TMC-BJP Clash over Insult to Sikh; Birmingham Recognizes Sikh Ethnic Group

On 12 Jun, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar allegedly threw a slipper at an Sikh man at the crossing of Hazra Road and Harish Chatterjee Street in Kolkata. The place is near West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence. TMC says the slipper hit the Sikh man's turban. On the basis of a complaint by local Sikh community members, a First Information Report has been lodged at the Kalighat police station in south Kolkata. It charges Majumdar with, 'insult to religious belief and hurt religious sentiment and also caused assault to that person.' Dismissing the allegation, BJP’s Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) Member of Parliament Samik Bhattacharya said that it was only not a real slipper but a ‘paper cutting of a slipper.’ It fell on a person from Majumdar’s own security detail. That person has not complained but the Sikh community is up in arms at the behest of the TMC. On 17 Jun, Majumdar apologized to the Sikh community. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Birmingham City Council will recognize Sikh and Jewish identities when collecting data from residents. A motion tabled by Birmingham Labour group to change the way the information is collected in the future was carried at a full council meeting.  Currently, Birmingham City Council questionnaires do not include the categories, despite the city having more than 30K Sikh residents and a 2K-strong Jewish community. The Labour group said while Sikhs and Jews had been legally recognized as ethnic groups for more than 40 years, data was not routinely collected by public bodies. The motion was brought by councillor Jamie Tennant and seconded by councillor Rinkal Kaur Shergill. Describing herself as 'a proud Sikh woman who lived in Birmingham the last 34 years,' Shergill pointed out the National Health Service did not classify Sikh and Jewish communities either, despite them being disproportionately affected by particular diseases and during the pandemic (earlier coverage).