New York: The American Sikh Council (ASC) has expressed shock over the ‘ignorance’ of the Trump Campaign which has portrayed a Sikh resident of Indiana as a ‘Muslim’.
“It is shocking and disappointing to see that a sophisticated political machine such as the ‘Trump Campaign’ can make such blunders causing more confusion among the general public”, a press release states.
ASC said that [i]t was indeed a conundrum that on one hand there has been serious rhetoric against Muslims by the Republican front-runner for more than a year, while on the other hand including a picture of a Sikh American in their campaign poster allegedly without his permission and portraying him as a Muslim.
As reported by ‘WHTR’ news – Gurinder Singh Khalsa stated, “I am not Muslim and I am not supporting Trump”, notes ASC statement.
The ASC maintained that the constant negative rhetoric towards Muslims by the Republican presidential front-runner has caused so much misery and pain within the Sikh American and the Muslim American community across the USA.
“The ‘Trump Campaign’ seems to be boasting about fighting radical Islam all the time, but if they cannot even identify a radical Muslim accurately, then how in the world can they be successful in eradicating radical Islamists” the statement reads further.
“This is not the first time that national organizations, major media outlets, etc, have misidentified a Sikh man as a Muslim which actually conflates the image of a Sikh with the very small extremist fringe from among the Muslim in the minds of the public, causing hate and bigotry. Due to this constant barrage, at least one Sikh American on average, every month has been assaulted and/or killed for simply being misidentified and it has escalated since the presidential race started last year”, said Inderpreet Singh, Media and Public relations representative of the American Sikh Council.
An advisory for the Trump surrogates – 99.9 percent of individuals wearing turbans and a beard in the US are Sikhs, notes ASC.
ASC has demanded that the ‘Trump Campaign’ put out a public apology and correct the error immediately. ASC says it would gladly educate the campaign officials if they choose to reach out for any clarifications.