Race row at BBC`s Asian station

London, Aug 20 (PTI) A race row has erupted at BBC's
flagship Asian station, which has been accused of being
insensitive towards Sikhs and encouraging a Muslim presenter
to mock Sikhism.

"We should not be paying a licence fee for promoting
the ignorance-based ramblings of those bent on self-promotion
who sneer at Asian religion and culture," said Hardeep Singh,
a spokesman of the Sikh Media Monitoring Group, which accused
BBC's Asian Network of being insensitive towards listeners
from the minority community.

The Sikh Group has written to the BBC asking for a
full transcript of Adil Ray's show, which was removed from
their website after threats from angry Sikh listeners who
accused the popular Muslim presenter of denigrating the
"kirpan" dagger – an important religious symbol and one of
five ceremonial symbols that baptised Sikhs are expected to
wear at all times, The Independent newspaper said today.

Members of the Sikh community complained that Ray, in
the show broadcast by the Birmingham-based network on Thursday
August 6, had been disparaging about whether Sikhs really
needed to carry kirpans. The complaint was based on Ray's
discussion of the cancellation of a Punjabi music concert in
Canada where police had banned Sikhs who refused to remove
their "kirpan", the British daily reported.

BBC's Asian Network had courted controversy last year
when the Lord Ahmed of the Labour Party had accused the
network of being biased against Muslims.

Indarjit Singh, veteran Sikh journalist and chief of
the Network of Sikh Organisations, said Britain's Asian
communities should move away from stations aimed at a small
demographic.

"Stations like BBC Asian Network do little to
encourage integration and social cohesion because they allow
communities to ghettoise themselves," he said.

Supporters of the Asian Network, however, believe the
radio station is a vital voice for Britain's Asians in the
otherwise white-dominated industries of media and
broadcasting.

The network, which was set up eight years ago after
the BBC's then director general Greg Dyke described his own
organisation as "hideously white", has denied the accusations
or any suggestion that Ray meant to mock Sikhism. PTI