Morphed pic shows Sikh Mayor as dictator

Washington, May 15

Ravi Bhalla, the first-ever Sikh Mayor of a city in New Jersey, has been allegedly racially targeted after his photoshopped image as an Arab dictator was published on a local website.

The New Jersey-based website, “Hudson Mile Square View”, ran an image of Hoboken Mayor Bhalla that resembled the lead character played by British actor Sacha Baron Cohen in the comedy film “The Dictator”.

The photo was part of a story titled, “Ravi Bhalla goes to the mattresses... for his tax increase”.

It accused Bhalla of “summoning all the powers” of his office to “reinstitute a tax increase” that was not approved by the city council.

According to the website, Bhalla had proposed a 3 per cent tax increase, but the council slashed it to 1 per cent. The story said now “the pushback from the Mayor's office to take back the tax reduction is underway”.

Sikh activists denounced the image as racist. PTI