Top UK Diplomat Calls Golden Temple ‘Golden Mosque’, Apologises

Simon McDonald is a Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom.

Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the “Golden Mosque” in a tweet.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@SMcDonaldFCO)

A top United Kingdom diplomat called one of India's holiest places, the Golden Temple, a mosque, following which he apologised amid protests by the Sikh community.

Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the "Golden Mosque" in a tweet on Monday, 23 April.

McDonald’s tweet read: “At QBP in Chandigarh @SinghLions presented @DHCAndrewAyre with picture of HM The Queen at Golden Mosque in Amritsar in 1997, a permanent memento for Deputy High Commission’s wall @UKinIndia”.

Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the “Golden Mosque” in a tweet.(Screenshot: Twitter/@SMcDonaldFCO)

On realising his mistake, he apologised for the gaffe.

The Foreign Office top diplomat said on Tuesday, "I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib".

Simon McDonald apologised for the gaffe(Screenshot: Twitter/@SMcDonaldFCO)

However, Bhai Amrik Singh, the chairman of the Sikh Federation, said, "This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and totally unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position".

In our view, a public apology and admitting the mistake is not enough. What we need is a commitment from the UK government and senior civil servants to root out such ignorance and discrimination or we will continue to face hate, abuse and threats of violence.

Bhai Amrik Singh, Chairman, Sikh Federation, as quoted by The Guardian

Twitterati, too, clearly wasn’t pleased by the gaffe and was enraged over the fact that the tweet hadn’t been deleted.

The Golden Temple also known as Sri Harmandir Sahib, located in the city of Amritsar, is one of the most revered spiritual sites of Sikhism in the world.

The gaffe comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced plans to launch an independent inquiry into Britain's military role in the Indian army's 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The Labour leader promised that an investigation into the attack, which is said to have left thousands of people dead, would be in the party's next manifesto.

(With inputs from PTI)

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