Britain is set to scrap a ban on turbans at high-risk workplaces next week, a move that some Sikh groups see as a ‘sweetener’ to deal with the fallout of the Margaret Thatcher government’s alleged role in Operation Bluestar in 1984. The Department for Work and Pensions is to announce that Sikhs will no longer be forced to wear hard hats inside factories and warehouses.
Sikh groups questioned the timing of the government’s announcement, which coincides with an ongoing inquiry into Britain’s alleged role in Operation Bluestar, the Indian Army’s operation to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Documents recently declassified by the National Archives pointed to the Thatcher’s collusion with her Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi in planning the raid on the Golden Temple. Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation UK, claimed the move could be a ‘sweetener’ to deal with the fallout of the allegations. ‘Timing is everything in politics. This long overdue closure of a loophole in employment law is welcome, yet it will do little to assuage the concern that the government of 2014 may refuse to reveal the truth about the government of 1984,’ he said.