By IANS,
Amritsar: Amid growing protest from the Sikh community against US chat show host Jay Leno for his remarks on the holiest of Sikh shrines – the Golden Temple, a Sikh group here has sought an apology from Leno and asked the US administration not to defend him.
Kanwarpal Singh, secretary-political affairs of Sikh group Dal Khalsa, said here: “Freedom of speech and expression is not a licence to offend. We are distressed to note that instead of taking a stand against the unwanted, unnecessary reference to the holiest shrine by NBC commentator Jay Leno, the US government has officially defended the comments.”
During his show last week, Leno passed off a visual of the Golden Temple as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s vacation home.
Singh said this was not the first time that Leno had made snide remarks against the Sikh community.
He said that the reference to Golden Temple, the Vatican of the Sikhs, has deeply hurt the sentiments of the entire Sikh community, including Sikh-Americans.
“Sikh diaspora will continuously campaign till Jay Leno and the NBC apologises and the American government regrets its defence of the comedian,” he added.