NORWICH - About three months after a memorial to thousands of Sikh victims killed 35 years ago in India was installed at Otis Library, the memorial has been removed -- at least in part at the urging of the Indian government.

The memorial accused the Indian government of genocide.

"Otis Library and the Norwich Monuments Committee jointly agreed to remove the plaque, flags and portrait," said Nicholas Fortson, president of the library Board of Trustees.

It was removed about two weeks ago, he said.

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Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, the city’s Sikh community leader and a local business owner, donated the memorial and lobbied to have it put up.

He said he opposes the library trustees' decision. "It's not Indian-held territory," Khalsa said. "The (Sikh) community was very upset."

The city's Plaques and Monuments Committee, whose members are Alderwoman Stacy Gould, Alderman Joe DeLucia and Council President Pro Tem Bill Nash, agreed to the library's request to remove the memorial, Gould said.

"They just decided this was not good for the mission of the library," Gould said.

After the memorial was unveiled in June, the library received "harsh criticism as well as support," Fortson said.

Among the critics was the Indian government. An official from the consulate in New York telephoned Otis Library Executive Director Bob Farwell about the memorial, Fortson said.

Farwell was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

A call to the Indian Consulate in New York seeking a comment was not returned.

The memorial upset some local Hindus, Gould said. "The library doesn't want to get involved in some controversy."

"The library is a nonpolitical organization," Fortson said, and neither endorses products nor partisan political causes. "We want to make sure our visitors are in a safe atmosphere."

The "1984 Sikh Genocide Memorial" was placed on a wall of the library's main lobby. An unveiling ceremony was held in June, with many Sikhs present as well as several city officials and community leaders.

The memorial was the only one of its kind in the United States.

"As a community space, we welcomed the opportunity and encourage the public to view the memorial and learn more about the Sikh community and its history," Farwell told a Bulletin reporter in advance of the unveiling. "We are a venue that attracts a diverse body of patrons, which certainly helps broaden public awareness."

On Sept. 16, the library received the Norwich Rotary Community Diversity Award. The award presentation said it was given partly because of the Sikh memorial.

The memorial featured flags and a plaque honoring Sikh soldiers who fought to protect places of worship beneath a portrait of Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindrawale, who died during fighting at the Sikh religion's holiest shrine, Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab.

In June 1984, after the Indian government suspected weapons were being stockpiled at the temple for use by Sikhs who wanted to separate from India, troops were deployed into the religious complex. Hundreds of Sikh worshippers were killed and the structure was desecrated and burned.

The temple fight later led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Her death sparked riots in November 1984 in which thousands of Sikhs were killed in reprisal across India.

The Indian government has denied numerous accounts that it organized and supported the killings and puts the death total much lower than independent estimates of 8,000 to 17,000 Sikhs. The U.S. government, although saying that "grave human rights violations" occurred, has always refused to term the killings genocide.

The plaque, however, called the November killings "a state sponsored genocidal campaign against Sikhs all across India."

According to Khalsa, the memorial was a rare chance to present the "Sikh narrative" of what happened in 1984, which he said the Indian government has tried to suppress ever since.

The plaque, flags and portrait have been returned to Khalsa. He said the memorial could be moved to City Hall instead.

"I still hope we will be able to resolve it," he said.

He is planning an event on Nov. 9 outside City Hall. "We should still continue with our narrative," Khalsa said.