AI Generated Summary
- US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor returned on Monday to the Golden Temple after 15 years, leading a 28-member American delegation and putting the concerns of Sikhs in the United States at the centre of a carefully staged outreach in Punjab.
- He said the Sikh principle of human equality resonated with America’s founding language, expressed hope that family concerns raised with Gor would be taken up, and said the envoy had invited a Sikh jatha to the US.
- The SGPC presented Gor with a gold-plated model of the shrine, religious literature and a shawl.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor returned on Monday to the Golden Temple after 15 years, leading a 28-member American delegation and putting the concerns of Sikhs in the United States at the centre of a carefully staged outreach in Punjab.
Gor paid obeisance at Sri Harmandir Sahib, was received by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami and acting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj, and wrote in the visitors’ book: “Honoured to return to this very special place. I visited for the first time now 15 years ago. Thrilled to be back!” Later he posted that it had been “a memorable day in Amritsar visiting the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and the Partition Museum.”
The meeting was more than ceremonial. Dhami and Gargajj raised issues facing Sikh and Punjabi families in America, including immigration enforcement and community safety. Dhami cited a recent US Department of Homeland Security poster that used “Mr Singh” in a self-deportation campaign. Sikh and Indian-American groups called it derogatory; the poster was withdrawn after protests. Dhami said the SGPC had objected and asked that such imagery not be repeated.
Gargajj framed the conversation in history as well as current grievance. He noted that American officers once served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army and that Sikhs and Punjabis now contribute widely in the United States. He said the Sikh principle of human equality resonated with America’s founding language, expressed hope that family concerns raised with Gor would be taken up, and said the envoy had invited a Sikh jatha to the US. The SGPC presented Gor with a gold-plated model of the shrine, religious literature and a shawl. Officials briefed the delegation on Gurbani, maryada and sewa.
The visit sits in a broader US effort to engage India beyond New Delhi. Punjab’s large North American diaspora makes Amritsar a natural stop after Gor’s earlier tours of Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur. He also visited Jallianwala Bagh and the Partition Museum, where he heard oral accounts of the 1947 partition.
