Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh-American attorney and co-chair of Lawyers for Trump, and Jasdip Singh, the co-Chair of "Sikhs For Trump" have lauded the incumbent president’s policies, which they claimed were responsible for an increase in representation of Sikhs in the US Armed Forces and law-enforcement agencies.
“We have seen an increased representation of Sikhs in the armed forces and security agencies serving with their Sikh tenets, wearing turbans and beards", Jasdip Singh said in a video message posted on his Facebook page.
"The community is not only safe, but thriving under President Trump", added Singh.
The statement by prominent members of the American Sikh community follow allegations made by the campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden against President Donald Trump of "encouraging" a culture of bullying at the US schools.
Singh also went on to highlight that some of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign promises, including legalising marijuana and same-sex marriages, were against the tenets of the Sikh religion.
"If you ask me how could I support President Trump, I would ask you how you could support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris", Singh said.
Sikh community members have also invoked an incident from 2011 involving Kamala Harris, when the former Attorney General of California refused to permit a Sikh man, Trilochan Oberoi, from serving at a correctional facility in the state.
At the time, Harris argued in a Sacramento County Superior Court filing that Trilochan Oberoi couldn't be properly fitted for a gas mask if he kept the facial hair required by his Sikh religion. In her argument, Harris emphasised that no exceptions had been granted since the policy took effect in 2004.
A petition on Change.Org, which documents the case, called upon Harris to apologise for the incident.
The Biden campaign launched "Sikh-Americans for Biden" on Sunday, with a stated aim of "protecting Sikh-Americans" in US schools. During the launch Biden's team highlighted that Sikh-American youths were two times more prone to bullying in schools than others.
"The Biden campaign plans to highlight the specific plans and policies that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has outlined in his platform to address the unique challenges that the Sikh American community faces with regards to racism, xenophobia, and discrimination", a statement issued by the Biden campaign reads.
According to a survey of voter attitudes among Indian-Americans earlier this month, sixty-six percent of the community’s voters preferred Joe Biden as the next US leader versus 28 percent who favour Trump.
The survey, carried out by Indiaspora and Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI), noted a rise in support among Indian-Americans for Trump as compared to the previous presidential election, when only 16 percent of the community's voters opted for the Republican nominee.
