WASHINGTON: Even amid the abundant diversity of Clinton’s inauguration, Dr. Balwant Singh stands out.
First there is the yellow turban, white robes and white beard. Then there is the 6-ft-1, rail-thin frame, the beatific smile that warms the new acquaintance he may be hugged at any moment.
In the last three presidential elections he was a Democratic elector from Mississippi, and this fall he ran a respectable, if losing, campaign for the party’s nomination for state representative.
Singh uses his visit here to lobby his home state congressman on behalf of Sikh independence from India. In order to get past Capitol security, he has to 20 without his scimitar, which is lobbying companion, Dr. Amarjit Singh of Santa Clara, Calif., said is emotionally hard on any Sikh. For the receptions and balls and dancing, Amarjit Singh says, “I have no taste for it, when you have an internal dance of blissful cestasy, there is no need for an outside dance.”
Balwant Singh, Sikh, educator and Democrat, smiles.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 5, 1993
