Irish Sikh poll candidate forced to remove his turban in Dubai
Tuesday, 05/05/2015
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LONDON: Northern Ireland’s firstever Sikh candidate contesting the UK general election has complained that he was allegedly forced to remove his turban by police at Dubai airport.
Amandeep Singh Bhogal, a Conservative Party prospective parliamentary candidate for the May 7 polls, was on his way back to Belfast when he was allegedly made to remove his turban and ‘kara’ (bangle).
Singh expressed his anger through a series of tweets and retweets – “My Sikh faith being grossly violated at @DubaiAirports by @ DubaiPoliceHQ as not being allowed leave until I take off and leave my Sikh bangle.”
Bhogal, who was born in Jalandhar, has made his mark on the campaign trail for the Conservative Party in his trademark blue turban. The 31-yearold represents the Upper Bann constituency in the heart of Northern Ireland. His candidacy is attracting widespread media interest though he is not expected to win the seat, which is currently held by David Simpson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Speaking to HT, Bhogal said: “A security officer interrupted me and asked me if I was carrying something dangerous in my turban. I said no. He first checked with a metal detector, when he didn’t find anything, he checked it with his hands.”
“As if this was not enough, he asked me to remove my kara. I said it doesn’t come off, it’s tight. He said he would then have to cut it off,” Bhogal added.
“Later, he asked me to remove a necklace, again a religious ornament which has an half-aninch-long kirpan. I told him that I have worn all these religious ornaments while travelling on many international flights with no one to question me.”
“He rudely and aggressively replied to this: It’s not India, it’s Dubai. And he refused to let me in. He told me that till I didn’t remove them, he would not let me board the flight. I was held at the immigration for three hours and they cancelled my departure. In the meanwhile, I was trying to get hold of the director.”
“He met me and apologised and agreed that this shouldn’t have happened… there is a huge problem for turban-wearing Sikhs. We have a huge Indian community in Dubai, but I don’t know why this happened,” Bhogal said.
