Attacks on Sikhs have taken place “up and down the country” every day since Vickrum Digwa was sentenced for the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, it has been claimed.
Dabinderjit Singh, a senior executive at the Sikh Foundation which promotes Sikh issues, made the comments at a march held to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the storming of the Golden Temple in India’s Amritsar which saw hundreds of people killed.
The event drew thousands of Sikhs to the capital in the wake of violent protests in reaction to the murder of Mr Nowak, who was stabbed by Digwa in Southampton using a ceremonial knife prosecutors said he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
Mr Singh said there have been daily attacks on Sikhs since Digwa was jailed for the crime on Monday, adding it “brings home” the violence faced by Sikhs at the Golden Temple massacre in 1984.
He said: “What happened since last Monday, which brings home what happened 42 years ago, is that when that bodycam footage came out, there was real anger.
“We understand that – we were just as angry with the police officers, and obviously Digwa, because he’s a murderer, (and) those lies he told, but unfortunately, every single day since Monday, Sikhs up and down the country have been assaulted.
“Children, men, women, pensioners, doctors, people going shopping, people walking in the park.
“One person went to the gym, and he was told, ‘We’re going to hang you by your turban’.
“What if somebody gets killed?”
He added: “We were the first ones to condemn it and yet our community has experienced exactly what we experienced 42 years ago. If you’re a Sikh, then you’re a potential victim.”
Mr Singh said comments made by politicians such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and US vice-president JD Vance have provoked a “worldwide frenzy”.
Mr Farage’s calls for the public to respond to Mr Nowak’s murder with “pure, cold rage” have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, while Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy revealed on Sunday he has told Mr Vance he was “wrong” to link the killing to a “mass invasion” of people into Europe.
Mr Singh said: “If politicians can take a sad occasion, like the death of Henry, to promote hate, they do need to look at themselves in the mirror. But that’s why we’re saying to all of them, ‘Look at the facts’.
“Once you’ve established the facts, let’s work together to make sure we don’t have another incident like we saw last year, of Henry being killed through no fault of his own.”
Davinder Singh, a retired doctor from Kent, was among those to attend the march.
He accused politicians of turning Mr Nowak’s murder into a racial and religious issue to “promote themselves”.
Mr Singh said: “The people who have got their vested interests, the politicians especially, they want to use this incident to propagate their popularity.
“They do not understand, this is not a Sikh or another faith issue. This is somebody who committed a murder, or who committed a crime, so it should be regarded as that, rather than making it a racial issue or religious issue.
“Those people who are making this kind of issue, they’ve got other vested interests … trying to promote themselves.”
His wife, retired researcher Pritpal Kaur, described Digwa’s crime as “horrendous” and said he does not represent Sikhism.
Ms Kaur said: “It’s important to understand that the person who committed the atrocity – that was completely against the principles of Sikhism.
“It is alleged that he was carrying the kirpan … this is for self-defence only, at the very last resort, when all methods of communication (and) dialogue end, then it can be used, but only for self-defence.”
She added: “The crime that was committed, that was completely wrong. That was wrong. It was horrendous.”
