Norwich, Connecticut

Norwich is a city of just over 40,000 people in Connecticut, in New England, in the United States. Three things tie it to the Panth: a state law naming a day for the November 1984 killings (the Tesra Ghallughara, a name Sikhs also give to the June 1984 attack on Sri Darbar Sahib), a memorial in its public library that was removed after a call from the Indian Consulate, and the election of a Sikh mayor. Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, a Norwich businessman and Sikh community leader, is at the centre of all three.

Key moments

• 1 June 2018: Public Act 18-60 (Substitute Senate Bill 489), "An Act Designating Various Days and Weeks", was approved. It tells the Governor to proclaim 30 November each year Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day. Connecticut Public reported in July 2018 that Connecticut was the first state to officially observe the day, and that Khalsa had spoken with state senators to help pass it.
• 1 June 2019: a memorial was unveiled in the main lobby of Otis Library: a plaque, flags and a portrait of Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale, who was killed in the Indian Army's June 1984 attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib. SikhNet called it the first US "1984 Sikh Genocide Memorial". Mayor Peter Nystrom attended. The plaque spoke of "a state sponsored genocidal campaign" against Sikhs after the attack, and Khalsa and a local business owner donated it.
• June 2019: SikhNet reported that Governor Ned Lamont declared June "Sikh Memorial Month" and that the General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that Saturday, 1 June, Sikh Memorial Day.
• September 2019: the library and the city's Plaques and Monuments Committee agreed to remove the display, the library's board president Nicholas Fortson said. Fortson said an official of the Indian Consulate in New York had telephoned the library's executive director, Bob Farwell, about the memorial.
• 4 November 2025: Khalsa, a Democrat, won the mayoral election. The Tribune called him the first Sikh elected mayor of Norwich, and WFSB reported him as the first Sikh mayor in New England. He had joined the city council in 2021.

The removal. Fortson said the library is nonpolitical and wants visitors to feel safe. Alderwoman Stacy Gould said the display was not good for the library's mission. Khalsa opposed the decision and said the city and library knew what the display contained and should not have yielded to threats from the Indian government. The items were returned to him. Sandeep Chakravorty, India's Consul General in New York, told PTI he was happy the unity of the community had been maintained. IANS, citing the Norwich Bulletin, also reported that he had written to Senator Cathy Osten, who asked for the 2018 bill, saying Sikhs face no persecution in India and calling local Sikh efforts "vociferous, pernicious and divisive".

Today. The law stands. Norwich is where the Panth in the United States won a state day, lost a memorial and then elected a Sikh to lead the city.