Killers of Gandhi get pride of place

Satwant Singh. Photo / Supplied

The three men who assassinated an Indian leader are being hailed as heroes in New Zealand's largest Sikh temple.

A Weekend Herald inquiry has found images of the trio involved in the shooting of Indira Gandhi are honoured as martyrs in the Sikh gurdwara (temple) in Manukau.

Bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh fired more than 30 bullets into the Indian Prime Minister.

The pair were killed by gunfire, while co-conspirator Kehar Singh was sentenced to death.

Titled "Shaheed Bhai" - or martyr brother - the paintings of the three men hang on the walls in the Takanini temple alongside others who have been killed for their Sikh beliefs.

The pictures are also on the walls of the Otahuhu gurdwara.

The pictures have divided the Sikh community in Auckland - and upset others in the Indian community.

But few were willing to speak publicly on the matter.

A spokesman for the Indian High Commissioner Sureesh Mehta said he was unavailable for comment but confirmed the issue was "sensitive".

Veer Khar, general secretary of the NZ Indian Central Association, said the organisation strived to build a strong relationship between the two countries.

"If someone wants to honour a terrorist, that's an individual choice. But to put them up in a public place, as a community we totally condemn such an activity," said Mr Khar.

He acknowledged atrocities were committed against the Sikh community in the lead up to Mrs Gandhi's assassination in 1984, but said honouring the men who killed her was creating unnecessary tension.

"We sympathise with the pain, we don't deny that those things happened. We want to say that we have to move on in life."

However, Ranvir Lali Singh has been involved with the temple for 15 years and said anyone who died for the Sikh religion is considered a martyr.

"We don't consider those who killed Indira Gandhi as terrorists, they are our martyrs. She was killed by her Sikh bodyguards as revenge for her attack on the Golden Temple, our holiest shrine, and for that, we consider them our martyrs. There is nothing wrong."

Ranvir Lali Singh said pictures of Sikhs who had died fighting the British were also honoured.

The Weekend Herald last month reported that Ranvir Lali Singh's wife and 2-year-old New Zealand-born son were barred from India.

Despite holding valid tourist visas for India, they were sent back to New Zealand after their names appeared on a blacklist and were questioned by Customs officials on their return.

He doubted the martyr paintings were the reason why his family were stopped at the border.

"Why only me and my family, why not the other Sikh leaders? I don't think the pictures are the reason."

However, another Sikh leader said some worshippers at the Takanini temple were "uncomfortable" about the pictures.

"People who killed somebody and people who died for the country are two different things, and cannot be put together on the same wall as martyrs. Not everybody in the Sikh community agrees on this view because some people think Indira Gandhi was evil. But not everybody agrees that her killers are heroes or martyrs."

A third Sikh leader compared the Gandhi assassination to the acts of the IRA in pushing for an independent Ireland.

"It's the same issue for those who have been involved in a struggle for an independent identity.

"Some will see them as heroes, while others will see them as terrorists."