From ‘Singh is King’ to ‘Get off our roads’: Bajwa, Randhawa slam Centre over US ad
Partap Singh Bajwa said the advertisement was deeply offensive to the Sikh community and raised questions about the dignity accorded to Indians abroad
Senior Punjab Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today criticised the BJP-led Centre over a controversial advertisement issued by US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which depicts a turbaned Sikh and carries the messages, “Get off our roads” and “Self-deport or find out”.
Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa, said the advertisement was deeply offensive to the Sikh community and raised questions about the dignity accorded to Indians abroad.
“There was a time when ‘Singh is King’ captured the stature of India’s Prime Minister on the world stage. Dr Manmohan Singh commanded enormous respect in Washington,” Bajwa said, recalling the recognition accorded to the former prime minister by US presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush.
“What a tragic fall it is — from ‘Singh is King’ to ‘Mr Singh, get off our roads’,” he said, alleging that the Modi government had failed to respond with the urgency the matter warranted.
Bajwa said the humiliation of a Sikh abroad was not merely a community issue but a matter of concern for every Punjabi and Indian. He urged the Centre to take up the matter with the US administration through diplomatic channels and seek an explanation.
Former Punjab deputy chief minister and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also termed the advertisement “highly objectionable”, alleging that it racially profiled Sikhs and targeted their religious identity.
Randhawa said the matter was particularly concerning in view of what he described as an increase in anti-Sikh hate crimes in the US. Citing available data, he said 177 such incidents were recorded in 2025, compared with 142 in 2024.
He urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to immediately raise the issue with the US administration and demanded a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bajwa said India could not claim to be a “Vishwaguru” while remaining silent when Indians were publicly subjected to humiliation abroad.
“Foreign policy is not about photographs, handshakes and social-media optics. It is about protecting India’s interests and ensuring that every Indian, wherever they may be, is treated with dignity and respect,” he said.
