{"id":195049,"date":"2025-12-21T16:01:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T16:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/195049\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T16:01:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T16:01:23","slug":"threat-to-religious-freedom-sikh-leader-condemns-disruption-of-nagar-kirtan-in-new-zealand-urges-eam-to-intervene-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/195049\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Threat to religious freedom&#8217;: Sikh leader condemns disruption of nagar kirtan in New Zealand; urges EAM to intervene | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pic-61.jpg\" alt=\"'Threat to religious freedom': Sikh leader condemns disruption of nagar kirtan in New Zealand; urges EAM to intervene\" title=\"Screen grab from video shared by @officeofssbadal on X\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Screen grab from video shared by @officeofssbadal on X NEW DELHI: Senior Sikh leader and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday condemned the disruption of a peaceful Sikh Nagar Kirtan procession in South Auckland, New Zealand, expressing concern over the threat posed to religious freedom and communal harmony.Sharing a video of the incident on X, Badal said, \u201cNagar Kirtan is a sacred Sikh tradition\u2014a joyous religious parade involving the singing of hymns from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, promoting devotion, unity, and sharing of blessings with all humanity. I am glad to note that the Sikh community responded with remarkable restraint and peace despite provocation\u2014true to Guru Sahib\u2019s teachings of \u2018Chardi kala\u2019 and \u2018Sarbat Da Bhala\u2019.\u201d\u201cSuch intimidation threatens religious freedom and the spirit of universal brotherhood,\u201d he added.Badal further urged external affairs minister S Jaishankar to intervene and raise the matter with the New Zealand government to \u201cprotect the rights of the Indian diaspora.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Indian-Origin Navjot Singh\u2019s Heartbreaking Struggle Against Deportation To A Country He Doesn\u2019t Know<\/p>\n<p> On Saturday, a Sikh religious procession in New Zealand was disrupted by a group of \u2018Patriot\u2019 protesters. According to reports by the NZ Herald, the group was linked to political leader Brian Tamaki\u2019s Destiny Church, a Christian fundamentalist religious organisation. In a video shared on Tamaki\u2019s social media, members of a group calling themselves the True Patriots of NZ were seen confronting the Sikh procession as it moved along the street. The group described themselves as \u201cGuardians of the Kiwi Way of Life. Defenders of Faith, Flag &amp; Family,\u201d and said they oppose \u201cglobalism, mass immigration, and woke ideology.\u201dAlso read | <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/rest-of-world\/this-is-new-zealand-not-india-christian-group-performing-haka-confronts-sikh-parade-in-auckland-video\/articleshow\/126094759.cms\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"strong\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\">Christian group performing haka confronts Sikh parade in Auckland \u2014 video<\/a>The protesters displayed a large banner reading, \u201cThis is New Zealand not India.\u201d While being kept apart from the Sikh group by police, they linked arms, performed a haka, and chanted \u201cOne true God,\u201d \u201cJesus,\u201d and \u201cGod of nation.\u201dInspector Matt Hoyes said around 50 protesters blocked the road in an attempt to disrupt the parade. He stated, \u201cPolice acted swiftly to ensure the parade was able to safely continue and additional officers were called in to escort the parade participants through the remainder of their route.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Screen grab from video shared by @officeofssbadal on X NEW DELHI: Senior Sikh leader and Shiromani Akali Dal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[251,120889,120888,8709,2344,120886,8707,8708,111,43,139,69,48961,120887,120884,120883,120885,787],"class_list":["post-195049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-breaking-news","tag-communal-harmony","tag-eam-intervention","tag-google-news","tag-india","tag-india-new-zealand-relations","tag-india-news","tag-india-news-today","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-religious-freedom","tag-sikh-community-response","tag-sikh-leader-sukhbir-singh-badal","tag-sikh-nagar-kirtan-new-zealand","tag-sikh-tradition-religious-parade","tag-today-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}