The Sikh radical organization in the United States, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) protested against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab convener and film actor Gurpreet Ghuggi at Tracy, California on Wednesday. The protesters were reported calling him ‘Anti-Sikh’.

Protesters believed that the team of artistes that then Director General of Police KPS Gill assembled in 1990s to perform in the state’s villages ‘to divert public attention from police excesses against Sikhs’.

A leading daily has quoted SFj legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as saying, “Ghuggi also hurt Sikh sentiments by comparing his party leaders form Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to the Panj Pyaras (five beloved ones of the Guru).”

“Why did the AAP make a comedian its Punjab convener when it has a more able leader in Harvinder Singh Phoolka?,” he further questioned.

Pannun said that that Ghuggi, in a public address in Amritsar on September 4 said, “If first of the Panj Pyaras came from Lahore, the second was from Uttar Pradesh, and Guru Gobind Singh didn’t question why he was from outside Punjab.”

Pannun added, “The protest against Ghuggi is a wake-up call to the AAP that, so far, had the backing of Khalistan supporters in the US and Canada.”

Ghuggi had apologized for his remarks, according to the reports, but SFJ has rejected it as ‘lame, before a thin gathering’.

Ghuggi said that he hasn’t sought an apology but only ‘clarified certain things’, “If the people’s sentiments are hurt due to misinformation spread against me, I am ready to seek apology.”

By Prajakt K