Row breaks out at Bristol Sikh temple
Officers were called in to the temple in Fishponds Road, Eastville, when tensions came to a head yesterday morning.
An argument broke out at around 9.30am after a dispute over whether women could vote in the temple's elections threatened to break into violence.
Half a dozen riot vans were placed on standby as hundreds of Sikhs tried to vote in a new temple management committee.
Between 50 and 100 people protested and one was arrested for a public order offence outside the temple, which dates back to the 1950s and is one of the city's largest.
The dispute centred around two warring factions in the temple's 650-strong membership over whether women should be allowed to take part in the elections.
The row erupted when protesters complained that 79 women were being denied their vote. But rivals argued the women were not entitled to vote because they had not registered for the election in advance.
According to the newly-elected general secretary Javinder Singh, the row began several months ago after some members of the previous committee objected to female registration.
An independent electoral company was called in to make sure the elections yesterday were carried out fairly at a cost of around £2,000, with worshippers voting for either one of two eight-member committees.
But protesters claimed some of their supporters weren't being allowed to take part in the voting process, and the wishes of the congregation were being ignored.
Ragdir Nirman, 54 from Redland, was one of the members pushing for a re-run of the election during the protest.
He said: “The committee has devised a system which suits them and there are 79 ladies and 17 members who have paid their membership but who can't vote.
“We are all brothers, cousins and relatives of each other who have lived here for a long time but this must not continue because it is not fair.”
Jagbir Singh, 51 from Horfield, is a committee member at the temple and has been involved with it since 1977.
He said: “We have got an independent company running this election because there has been a history of them not being done democratically.
“This is the first year we have ever had women voting at the temple but now a lot of extra women have come down at the last moment, after the end of the agreed time period for registration.
“A lot of time and effort has gone into this and it's been done very fairly.
“There was a signed agreement about it but now people are saying that another 79 people should be added who were too late to register.
“We have tried to come to a compromise but these people are not conceding anything.
“There is no chance that the election will be re-run because it has already cost this temple a lot of money.”
Voting had been due to start at 10am but it was delayed until midday while Chief Inspector Rob Dean, of Avon and Somerset Police's community safety department, served as a negotiator between the two groups.
When tensions were calmed, voting restarted and the polls closed at 4pm, with the new committee announced at 5.30pm.
Javinder Singh said: “On May 1 the previous committee confirmed women would have the right to vote, but certain members objected.
“We agreed to hold the election on August 3 by secret ballot and through an independent election committee.
“We had a two week registration process for women during which 120 joined.
“Then the protestors changed their tune, and claimed they had 79 ladies who should be eligible to vote, but they hadn't go through the registration process.
“They just wanted to make up the numbers, it wasn't about the ladies.
“There was intense negotiation between both sides yesterday, and one side conceded to allow 80 per cent of those 79 ladies to vote but the protestors wanted all or nothing.
“They didn't want anything to do with the election and that was their choice.
“A lot of people didn't vote because they were intimidated.”
The new general secretary said the management committee included three women – Narindar, Anita and Sheila Kaur – and that it represented Sikhs of all ages.
He said: “It is a fair and balanced committee which has female members for the first time in the temples history. Hopefully things will now get back to normal.”
Fishponds Road was reopened at around 2.30pm and protestors gradually left during the course of the afternoon.
Chief Inspector Dean said: “The elections have been delayed for a variety of reasons and we have been involved in trying to help both parties through the negotiations.
“There are allegations of malpractice on both sides and our issue is to ensure that it doesn't come to violence.
“There are 650 registered members at the temple and, while this isn't an issue of the community against the police, there are two factions of the community here who can't reconcile their differences.”
