US drops Amritsar from Obama itinerary over headgear worries

Times of India ^ | 20 October 2010 | Times of India, New Delhi, India

[AmericanInTokyo]

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama will not visit Amritsar during his stay in India next month. While there was no official confirmation from the government, sources said the proposal to visit Amritsar had been dropped owing to reservations of US officials over the kind of scarf Obama would have to wear to visit the Golden Temple.

The decision was yet to be communicated to the government till late on Tuesday. However, sources said Obama, who will arrive in Mumbai on November 6, will directly come to Delhi now after a day's stay in the country's commercial capital. Earlier, he was to fly to Amritsar from Mumbai for a brief visit to the Golden Temple.

Sources said a team of US officials, which visited Amritsar last month, had expressed concern that Obama wearing the traditional headscarf might lead to "misinterpretation" that he is a Muslim. The US is wary of giving any such impression.

[Oztrich Boy]

He can’t decide on what hat to wear and he’s supposed to deal with a 3AM phone call?

[Grumplestiltskin]

“Sources said a team of US officials, which visited Amritsar last month, had expressed concern that Obama wearing the traditional headscarf might lead to “misinterpretation” that he is a Muslim. The US is wary of giving any such impression.”

How can we “misinterpret” something that is already painfully obvious?

Hint:
It ain’t the headscarf.

Muslim is, as Muslim does.

[munin]

What would he have to wear to the Golden Corral?

Well, he could borrow one of Arafat’s scarfs/rags as he arent needing them anymore

[munin]

Amritsar isn’t Muzlim. It is Sikh, which has nothing to do with Izlam. But they do wear turbans

Actually, Sikhism is part Muslim and part Hindu and part a mixture of both, and they can be quite violent, towit. Air India flight out of Vancouver about 20 years ago loss of life over 300

[AmericanInTokyo]

Believe me, I am quite aware of those distinctions and differences. ;-)

[airedale]

There is to any turban. Each tribal or ethnic group has a different way of making their turbans. The Sikhs I know are very nice as well. That said Obama doesn’t have to wear one to visit the Golden Temple just a head covering of some kind.

[La Lydia]

Which part of Sikhism is Muzlim?

[AmericanInTokyo]

The only other plausible explanation for this odd behavior and hypersensitivity is that they have advance intel that the Lakshar-e-Tayyba (terrorist group) or others are active in that area, and they diplomatically want to back out of going up there. Other than that, I think it is for PR damage control—they have run the polls and they know what the American People have come to believe about Barack Hussein Obama, (mmm mmm MMM). At any rate, Obama’s trip to India next month is going to be a public relations disaster. For starters, he is going to walk into the lions den of private business anger at him in Mumbai for the confab there with some of the brightest business minds on this planet arrayed against him, this lowly community organizer and two-bit Marxist college instructor. Stay tuned. Too bad this all comes down several days AFTER the mid term ass kicking. This debacle in the subcontinent would be even more icing on the cake, IMHO.

[Haiku Guy]

The Sikhs don’t particularly like Muslims... Just sayin’...

[The Antiyuppie]

What a jerk. if the Queen of England can take off her shoes while visiting, I think that he can do this without losing his “dignity”...of course, this has nothing to do with dignity, does it?

[La Lydia]

Just sayin’ they have had HUGE WARS FOR YEARS.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Uh OH.

Trouble in paradise.

The White House is going to have trouble getting out of this FIB. Look at what the Sikh Leadership just said about this:

"Dismissing the controversy over how US President Barack Obama would cover his head on his visit to the Golden Temple as a non-issue, Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar appealed to Obama to keep his date with Amritsar. Giani Gurbachan Singh and Makkar told HT on Tuesday that they had not imposed any conditions regarding the mode of covering the head inside the temple. "Thousands of non-Sikhs pay obeisance at Harmandar Sahib everyday. We have never objected to how they cover their heads," Makkar said. Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, head of the supreme Sikh temporal seat, said he had conveyed to US officials planning the visit that President Obama could cover his head with a scarf or any kind of cap. "I had only appealed against an army cap to maintain Guru Granth Sahib's honour as supreme," he said. "President Obama should keep his commitment regarding the visit to the minority community's shrine. It would convey to the world his secular credentials too," Giani Gurbachan Singh said. He also appealed to PM Manmohan Singh to ensure he and Obama paid a joint visit to Harmandar Sahib on November 7 as scheduled. Rejecting reports they had raised objections, Makkar said: "How can that be, when we did not raise any objection to Queen Elizabeth entering Darbar Sahib wearing a hat?" He said the temple was all set to extend a welcome to Obama with a siropa (robe of honour)." (SOURCE: 20 October HINDUSTAN TIMES DAILY, Top Story)

[utherdoul]

I wonder if he feels endangered by the sikhs. They hate muslims worse than practically any other group. I think anotherp oster said the muslims commited several acts of attempted genocide against them.

[Oztrich Boy]

Which part of Sikhism is Muzlim?

Monotheistic? (yeah it's a stretch)

[Cobra64]

[Cobra64]

[blueplum]

As the president of the USA, I don’t see why he needs to comply with any custom at all.

[AmericanInTokyo]

That would explain then why careers in international diplomacy don’t fit everyone.

[DTogo]

What about Obama refusing to visit the primary Sikh temple, for something as trivial as head dress, might that not lead to the “misinterpretation” that he is a Muslim??

[chilltherats]

I like Sikhs. Their values are very similar to mine.

I look at it this way. The people of Amritsar caught a break.

But actually, this is yet another insult to our intelligence. India is NOT a muzzie country. Sikhs wear wrapped turbans. They do not wear draped dinner napkins with a doo-rag tied to hold it in place.