A Sikh group is targeting 50 constituencies, including many in the Black Country, with their own manifesto.
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| Crowds at the Sikh Federation 1984 International Remembrance Event at Wolverhampton Civic Hall |
February 3, 2015: The Sikh Federation said it wanted to use the ‘voting clout’ of the community to secure an investigation into the massacre at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984 among other things.
This manifesto was developed after thousands of people attended the September 2014 National Sikh Convention at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Sedgley Street, Wolverhampton over three days.
The organisation is calling for candidates in each of the constituencies to set out their position, and those of their party, on the manifesto issues.
In the West Midlands the ones being targeted are Conservative-held Wolverhampton South West, Walsall North, Walsall South, Dudley North, Wolverhampton North East, Wolverhampton South East, West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West.
Tens of thousands of Sikhs marched in London in June 2014 to commemorate the 1984 Amritsar massacre and support calls, repeated in the manifesto, for an independent inquiry into UK Government involvement.
Sikh leaders demanded an apology after Government papers released under the 30-year rule revealed an SAS officer had advised the Indian Government of the time ahead of the massacre of hundreds of dissidents at the Golden Temple of Amritsar.
The Indian Government approached the UK for help following the occupation of the Golden Temple and the adviser had gone to India in February 1984, four months before the attack called Operation Bluestar.
However, four files have not yet been released.
Bhai Amrik Singh, Sikh Federation chairman, said: “We are making the most of our voting clout through targeting seats and publishing a manifesto for the first time.”