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| Harmeet Dhillon, right, speaks with fellow Sikh volunteers Guri Kang, Ravi Kahlon, and Indierjit Kallirai, left, to right, during a precinct walk to gather support in the Sikh community for Congressional candidate Doug Ose in Elk Grove, Calif., |
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Sikh-ing a GOP Win
- Playing ethnic politics is smart politics. The California GOP reaches out to Sikh voters in a hot Congressional race.
(The Modesto Bee) - Anger stemming from a 30-year-old religious clash in India that left thousands dead has crept into one of the closest and most expensive congressional races in the country.
Some Sikh political activists and the California Republican Party are campaigning against Democratic Rep. Ami Bera, saying he refuses to acknowledge the alleged involvement of the Indian government in the anti-Sikh rioting in 1984.
Bera, a physician representing a suburban Sacramento district, is the only Indian-American in Congress.
Other Sikh leaders are planning a fundraiser for Bera this weekend, dismissing the opposition as a fringe group that doesn't represent their religious community. They praise Bera, a freshman lawmaker and Unitarian who was raised Hindu by Indian immigrant parents, as a valuable advocate for all South Asians.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion with roots in modern-day Punjab that emphasizes equality and good works. Male followers often wear turbans. In California, Sikhs have a long history as farmers in the Central Valley.
Bera's 7th Congressional District, which is about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, has about 6,000 registered voters of Indian descent, according to Political Data Inc., a California firm that provides detailed breakdowns of voting districts.
The race between Bera and Republican Doug Ose, a former congressman, has attracted more than $4 million from outside interest groups. The margin of victory in November is expected to be razor thin, so even a small-scale revolt from within a single ethnic community could help tilt the election.
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| California's 7th Congressional District In the 2012 Obama landslide election the Democrat House candidate won a narrow 51.7% victory over a Republican incumbent. Voter registration is 39% Democrat, 37% GOP and 24% independents and smaller political parties. |
Such attempts to gain votes by taking sides in emotional historical debates are unusual and can carry unforeseen pitfalls for the side that tries to appease one group while angering another.
The election debate over the Sikh massacre recalls a long-running disagreement over the slaying of some 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, which Armenians insist constituted genocide and Turks reject.
In the Bera-Ose race, a group of activists calling itself American Sikhs for Truth plans to send 1,500 anti-Bera mailers in English and Punjabi to Sikh households and to deploy volunteers on the streets in the coming days.
California Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh, was among Ose volunteers knocking on the doors of Sikh households last weekend in the district.
The massacre of Sikhs marks one of the darkest periods of sectarian violence in recent Indian history. After violently suppressing a Sikh insurgency and an army attack on the holiest Sikh site, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.
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| California Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh, and her parents. |
Her killing prompted anti-Sikh rioting across northern states that left more than 3,000 people dead, some hacked to death and others burned alive. Government officials have been accused of inciting then ignoring the violence.
"It was a huge, horrible crush to the psyche of the Sikh community worldwide," said Dhillon, who had relatives forced into hiding.
Ahead of the clash's anniversary in November, a group of Sikhs asked congressional candidates in Northern California whether the deaths happened with government assistance or lack of intervention, and if they would pursue justice for the victims' families. Bera's campaign was among nine that did not answer the questions.
Voters who are critical of his stance say Bera is bending to pressure not to offend prominent Indian-American campaign donors in America or the government of India.
"As an Indian, my goal is to see my people rise up," said Inderjit Kallirai, a Republican state worker who says he supported Bera in 2010 and 2012. "The only thing that divides us now is he doesn't want to stand for Sikhs."
As he went door-to-door for Bera's Republican challenger, Kallirai told fellow Sikhs that Bera wouldn't speak out for their community. Some older Sikh voters familiar with Bera's position on the massacre, such as 66-year-old Gurdev Singh, agreed to place Doug Ose signs on their lawns.
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Protect Our Water - Doug Ose for Congress
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| Walking for the GOP Sikh volunteers Ravi Kahlon, Inderjit Kallirai and Guri Kang, from left, put a sign in the front yard of Gurdev Singh during a precinct walk to gather support in the Sikh community for GOP Congressional candidate Doug Ose. |
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| Republican candidate for Congress Doug Ose, left, shakes hands with Harmeet Dhillon, and fellow Sikh volunteer precinct walkers Ravi Kahlon and Guri Kang. |
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