The Sikh man who was forced out of Donald Trump’s election rally after he protested the Republican presidential frontrunner’s anti-Muslim speeches with a ‘Stop Hate’ banner, has said that he plans to take his peacful protests to other rallies of the real-estate tycoon. (Facebook)


The Sikh man who was forced out of Donald Trump’s election rally after he protested the Republican presidential frontrunner’s anti-Muslim speeches with a ‘Stop Hate’ banner, has said that he plans to take his peacful protests to other rallies of the real-estate tycoon.

Arish Singh, a former editor of a local newspaper ‘Little Village’ and a comedian, was thrown out of a Trump rally in Iowa on Sunday after he interrupted Trump’s signature anti-Muslim speech by displaying the banner.

“I am a not a Muslim. But you don’t have to be a Muslim to stand against anti-Muslim bigotry,” Singh, a resident of Chicago, tweeted on Monday afternoon.

Singh said that he decided to interrupt the speech due to a series of remarks by Trump — such as his suggestion that the US ban all Muslim immigrants — which have coincided with a rise in incidents of xenophobia and bigotry against Sikhs and Muslim Americans.

While Trump has not attacked Sikhs directly, Singh pointed to a series of hate-crimes perpetuated against Muslim Americans over the past months.

It is part of the Sikh tradition to stand up to injustice, regardless of where it might manifest, he said, adding that he plans on protesting during Trump’s rally in Iowa City.

When Singh saw that white supremacists began robo-calling in Iowa in support of Trump, he said that was the “last straw,” Little Village reported.

“I don’t really care about Trump himself or his political party, but this sort of movement that he’s emboldened — this sort of fascistic element that genuinely identifies with fascism, that’s willing to commit hate-crimes — that’s something that’s real that needs to be confronted, and you can’t just let that go without comment, and I think that’s kind of how it’s been treated,” Singh said.

Singh said he was not sure, if Trump in his comment in hat was trying to make any kind of slur against him. “Whether he was trying to make any kind of slur against me is kind of irrelevant. It’s clear what his politics are as far as ostracizing and scapegoating people for their background. I think he’s left no real mystery there,” Singh said.

“I believe we’re banned from the premises for a year,” Singh said.

“I did interrupt him. I did say, ‘why do you give shelter to white supremacists. Why do we have white supremacists robocalling in Iowa?’ I did say that as we dropped the banner,” Singh told the publication in an interview.