British Sikh woman confronts UK minister for promoting whisky
Thursday, 18/05/2017
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=176745&boxid=61502&uid=&dat=2017-05-18
London: UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had a tough time on Wednesday on the election campaign trail when a British Sikh woman admonished him for talking about whisky during a stop at a gurdwara in the city of Bristol. Johnson, whose wife is of Sikh origin, was forced to apologise for raising the issue of high tariffs on Scotch whisky imports into India, which could be brought down if a free trade deal is struck between India and the UK post- Brexit.
“He was simply making the point that a free trade deal with, for example, India could be huge for both sides,” said a spokesperson for the senior Cabinet minister. “He pointed out that in India billions of litres of whisky are consumed every year but there is a 120 per cent (customs duty) on imports of Scotch whisky and wouldn’t it be great if we could have free trade. “One lady expressed her views based on a personal situation but the other 30 attendees warmly welcomed his remarks. He said he was sorry to hear of her personal story but that was all,” he said. Johnson had stopped over at the Shri Guru Nanak Prakash Singh Sabha to show his support for Bristol East Conservative candidate Theo Clarke. He was presented with a ceremonial turban and given a tour of the gurdwara before his remarks created a stir.
“I wouldn’t be wanting to put somebody in power who wants to put more alcohol in India, which is causing lots of problems at the moment,” said a British Sikh woman, named locally as Balbir Kaur.
“I am a practicing Sikh and to me that is absolutely outrageous,” she said.
He was also put on the spot when he stressed that the Conservative party considered the matter of alleged British involvement in Operation Blue Star in 1984 “closed”.
