Disappointed Indian Sikhs urge Obama to at least visit Delhi Gurudwara

NEW DELHI - The news that the Golden Temple in Amritsar will not figure on U.S. President Barack Obama’s itinerary has disappinted many Sikh leaders in the region, but they have reportedly urged the U.S. leader to at least visit a prominent Sikh shrine in the capital New Delhi.

“Though President Obama’s itinerary will no more include a visit to the Golden Temple, there is still a ray of hope,” the Wall Street Journal quoted Giani Harnam Singh Khalsa, the head priest of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib temple in New Delhi, as saying.

In a letter to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, the gurudwara committee in New Delhi has reportedly appealed to Obama to visit the temple.

“This will partially remove the displeasure among the Sikh community about President Obama’s decision to cancel the Golden Temple visit,” Singh added.

Obama is arriving on a three-day visit to India starting November 6. He was originally planning to visit the the Golden Temple, the Sikh religion’s holiest shrine, which is spread over 15 acres.

The Indian Sikh community has lamented Obama’s decision of not to visit the temple.

“I deeply regret President Obama’s decision to cancel this trip without any valid reason. “The Sikh diaspora yearned to see President Obama at this sanctum sanctorum and give a powerful message of global peace and harmony in the world,” Joginder Singh, the secretary of the Golden Temple in Amritsar said.

Meanwhile, media reports have claimed that Obama’s visit to Amritsar was called off due to a quandary over what the U.S. President would wear on his head if he visited the Sikh holy spot, the paper said.

Earlier, the American Sikh community had said that Obama was not visiting the Golden Temple because he harbours fears of negative image fallout with him being partially Muslim by birth. (ANI)