UK – Sikh Weddings Protests Against Mixed Faith Marriages
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: March 11, 2013
WUNRN
UK – SIKH WEDDINGS DISRUPTED BY
PROTESTORS OBJECTING TO MIXED FAITH MARRIAGES
By Dil Neiyyar & Perminder
Khatkar – BBC Asian Network
In July a Sikh woman and her
Christian husband were locked out of their own wedding in Swindon.
Sikh weddings are regularly disrupted by protesters opposed to
mixed-faith marriages in gurdwaras, a BBC Asian Network investigation has
found.
Victims and their families have accused the protesters – who
believe non-Sikhs should not be getting married in Sikh temples – of
threatening behaviour.
In some cases, protesters have barricaded themselves inside
gurdwaras to prevent ceremonies taking place.
Last year the windows of a family’s house in
The incident took place just hours before a mixed faith wedding
in a nearby gurdwara.
The father of the bride told BBC Asian Network the house was targeted
because his daughter was marrying a Hindu in a Sikh temple.
He said: “Some of these people didn’t want the wedding to
go ahead. This was the way for them to frighten me.”
The couple ended up having a police escort for the wedding.
In
July a Sikh woman and her Christian husband were locked out of their own
wedding in
More than 40 protesters had barricaded themselves inside the
gates of the Sikh temple.
The bride’s mother pleaded with the men to call off their action
but the gates of the gurdwara remained shut.
One of the protesters, speaking anonymously to the BBC Asian
Network, said: “The last thing I want is to go to a gurdwara and cause
trouble. I can say hand on heart that we have never resorted to violence. We don’t
want to do this.”
But he said he believed it was hypocritical for a bride or groom
to go through a ceremony when they do not truly believe in the Sikh faith.
“No-one is telling you not to marry your son or daughter to
whoever you like – but don’t use our guru as an excuse to do it,” he said.
There are around 300 gurdwaras in
The rules on the anand
by the religion’s governing body which is based at the
In 2007 it advised gurdwaras the anand
some gurdwara committees are not respecting the faith by allowing non-Sikhs who
do not believe in the religion to marry there.
Professor Gurharpal Singh, from the
of
weddings has led to objections.
Prof Singh, an expert in the Sikh faith, said: “Previously
mixed marriages were rare and they were – in a sense – tolerated. But now we
are seeing a greater number of mixed marriages and correspondingly the reaction
against those marriages from those who believe that the formal Sikh tradition
says that only Sikhs should marry Sikhs.”
The Sikh Council – an umbrella body for Sikh organisations in
the
the sentiment of the protesters.
The council’s secretary general, Gurmel Singh, said: “I
would say there is no place in a modern
behaviour.”
A rise in mixed faith weddings
has led to an increase in these protests.
But Mr Singh said: “The
person getting married has to accept the concept of one god and renounce any
other beliefs they may hold which are contrary to that. “They would
also need to understand what the Sikh marriage entails.
They would need to adopt (the surname) Singh or Kaur as they are
what defines a Sikh. We don’t have legal powers so it is not legally
enforceable but it is a social contract a contract of commitment.”
The protests have made many gurdwaras incredibly nervous about
conducting mixed faith weddings and, while some said they were willing to hold
ceremonies, they did not want to speak about the issue publicly.
Secret Weddings
BBC Asian Network has learned
of couples struggling to book weddings in some temples and of other couples
getting married in secret, in front of a handful of guests.
One Sikh bride who got married to her Christian husband in
secret in December sacrificed a traditional big Asian wedding for a tiny
ceremony in front of a few relatives. She did not want to give her name for
fear of reprisals.
“The night before the wedding we were wondering what to do
if there was any trouble – it was really stressful and upsetting,” she
said.
Dr Piara Singh Bhogal has sat on the committee that runs the
Ramgariha gurdwara in Birmingham and he said he shared the protesters’ views on
Sikh-only weddings but objects to the way protesters are ruining the most
important day of a couple’s life.
“This issue now is becoming quite serious because
ceremonies have been disrupted. I am hearing about once a month, sometimes
twice a month ceremonies are being disrupted. People are getting scared,”
he said.
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