Jaskaran Sandhu: Sikhs Denounce Paranthe Wali Gali’s Offensive Graphics And Marketing
Jaskaran Sandhu: Sikhs Denounce Paranthe Wali Gali’s Offensive Graphics And Marketing
“The imagery perpetuates harmful, reductive stereotypes about Sikhs and contributes to our further marginalization.”
Jaskaran Sandhu
January 6, 2022 | 5 min. read | Original Reporting
UPDATE: Paranthe Wali Gali has sent Baaz a new statement as a result of the article:
“Once again we apologize for any inconvenience our marketing posters may have caused. This was completely unintentional and the sole purpose of doing this was to make people aware of our everyday home food parantha. There was/is no intention of hurting any community and we were not aware that our community had any issues with these images. We assure you that these posters shall be removed within next few weeks as we are part of the community and wouldn't do anything that would hurt anyone's religious beliefs”
Paranthe Wali Gali, a restaurant serving Punjabi fare, sits alongside one of the busiest roads in Brampton. What should otherwise be a fairly unremarkable sight in the city, home to one of the largest concentrations of Sikhs and Punjabis outside India, has been turning heads for a few years now.
The store-front windows facing Queen Street, one of Brampton’s main throughways, display large posters of cartoon-like images of non-Sikh Bollywood actors appropriating Sikh symbols, like the turban, while holding up paronthes, which many locals find offensive.
Taju Dhaliwal, 29, is a resident of Brampton and often drives by the location.
“The problem with Paranthe Wali Gali is that for a self-proclaimed Indian restaurant, why is religion being appropriated into the brand,” she asks when speaking to Baaz.
“It’s one thing to use the likeness of Bollywood stars as cartoon caricatures to advertise menu items, but to take it a step further and add turbans and give the cartoons names like Donpreet Singh and Garam Singh, I can’t help but wonder why making a mockery of the Sikh community was the brightest marketing strategy for paronthe,” she adds.
A spokesperson for the restaurant, replying via email, says religion has nothing to do with it.
“Kindly stand assured these images in no way promote any type of racism or in no way can be labeled as crude/stereotypical/insensitive. Use of Sikh imagery is only for the purpose of telling people about our traditional Punjabi food and heritage and when the word Punjabi pops up in any part of the world the first thing anyone thinks is Sikhs. This is the reason behind using these images.”
When asked by Baaz whether the business is owned or operated by Sikhs, after raising concerns from the community of cultural appropriation, the spokesperson shared that his “mom is Sikh, my dad is Hindu and my sister is married to a Christian and I am not sure why anyone would like to associate any small business group with religion. I go to Hindu temple and Gurudwara all the time without any hesitation.”
They go on to add that “anyone associating any business with any religion is not Sikh mentality but sick mentality.”
One of the posters uses an image of Amitabh Bachchan, who has been accused of encouraging the Sikh Genocide in 1984.
Simmi Jaswal has worked in Brampton as a teacher for a decade. She, like Dhaliwal, has found the graphics and promotional materials problematic.
“The imagery perpetuates harmful, reductive stereotypes about Sikhs and contributes to our further marginalization.”
Paranthe Wali Gali disagrees.
“Anyone complaining about these images need to have a clean and clear mind and not associate this with any inappropriate theory. Rather, they should feel proud that a Punjabi business is promoting traditional Punjabi everyday home food to people who have never experienced this food at their homes.”
Jaswal, however, does not buy it.
“Considering the violence Sikhs face at the hands of oppressive ideologies like Hindu nationalism and white supremacy, perpetuating demeaning stereotypes is downright dangerous.”
There has been long-standing resentment within the Sikh community of the Bollywood movie industry appropriating Sikh imagery, hiring non-Sikh actors to play Sikhs, and leaning into questionable Sikh and Punjabi stereotypes for tasteless humour.
One of the Sikh caricatures at the restaurant is of a character given the name “P.K. Singh” (the initials are a play on the Punjabi word for drinking or drunk) wearing a t-shirt that says “I love daru (alcohol)”.
“I assume the idea was to create a “funny” menu as Sikh’s have been the butt of jokes for decades in the Bollywood industry, so you can see why I’m more deterred than ever to dine at this restaurant,” Dhaliwal says as she continues, “It is extremely disrespectful towards the Sikh community as the Turban/Dastar is considered a crown. To “jokingly” incorporate that into a menu of caricatures from an industry that has done its absolute best to ridicule our community is anything but amusing.”
Paranthe Wali Gali, however, thinks Sikhs should take pride in actors appropriating the Sikh identity for movies.
“Time and again Bollywood characters have played Sikhs in movies and Punjabis like you and us have always felt proud,” they continue, “also, depiction of Bollywood actors in Sikh avatar is same as using images in Hindu avatar and shouldn't be considered as degrading any religion. We don't mean to hurt anyone's religious beliefs by doing this and nor should this be considered otherwise.”
When asked whether it was appropriate to continue to use Bollywood characters that also happened to stand silently, or support the Modi government, during the recent Farmers’ Protest, Paranthe Wali Gali disagreed.
“These pics have been used for the past four years and the Farmers’ Protest is very recent. Also please keep in mind that the Farmers’ Protest is not a Sikh protest it's a nationwide farmers' stir against laws put forward by the Government of India. Kindly don't associate this as a Sikh movement. It is a Farmers movement no matter what religion, caste or creed.”
Paranthe Wali Gali shares that they have only received one or two complaints in their four years of operation.
This is not the first time the restaurant has attracted unwanted attention. The Ontario Labour Relations Board ordered the company to pay a former-cook thousands in unpaid wages in 2021.
Dhaliwal has decided to boycott the restaurant and more are doing the same as they learn of the graphics she shares.
“As more people I knew became aware of the situation, the less we wanted to go there. There’s no shortage of Indian restaurants in Brampton, so boycotting them would hurt their business more than it would inconvenience customers.”
Jaswal believes the restaurant should address this issue and take into consideration concerns from the Sikh community.
“The restaurant should remove these images immediately and issue an apology.”
That approach is one Dhaliwal agrees with as well.
“The best thing Paranthe Wali Gali can do about the imagery is to make amends with the Sikh community first and foremost, and redirect their branding strategy to embody what they’re selling, rather than poking at the very community they get business from.”
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” she adds.
Jaskaran Sandhu hails from Brampton, Canada, and is the co-founder of Baaz. He is a Strategist at the public affairs and relations agency State Strategy. Jaskaran also previously served as Executive Director for the World Sikh Organization of Canada and as a Senior Advisor to Brampton’s Office of the Mayor. You can find Jaskaran on Twitter at @JaskaranSandhu_
Baaz is home to opinions, ideas, and original reporting for the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora. Support us by subscribing. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @BaazNewsOrg. If you would like to submit a written piece for consideration please email us at editor@baaznews.org.