Kolkata, Sep 11 (PTI) TMC MLA Debashree Roy Wednesday attended a standing committee meeting in West Bengal Assembly amidst the ongoing controversy over her failed attempts to join BJP.

Roy was seen attending a standing committee meeting of the information and cultural department at the Assembly on Wednesday.

She, however, declined to speak to the reporters.

TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee welcomed Roy joining the standing committee meet.

"It is good that she has attended the meeting. It is for her to answer on what she was doing for the last few days," Chatterjee told reporters.

Roy, a national award wining actress and two time TMC MLA, has been in eye of a political storm in Bengal after she had suddenly appeared at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on August 14.

According to BJP sources she had visited the BJP office following assurance by a senior state party leader that she could switch over to the saffron fold, but was met with opposition from former Kolkata mayor and TMC leader Sovan Chatterjee, who too had joined the party on the same day.

Later on she had also made yet another unsuccesful attempt to meet state BJP president Dilip Ghosh at his residence.

Ghosh, however, later said he has no objection to her joining the party.

According to TMC sources, Roy's joining Standing Committee meeting during the day reflects that her repeated attempts to join BJP has failed due to opposition from Chatterjee. PTI PNT KK KK 09112115 NNNNritish Sikh community, triggering a war of words between different groups disputing even a divide over the issue.

"Many Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations would strongly argue the Sikh community is far from divided," claims Sikh Federation UK, which says it speaks for around 150 Gurdwaras in Britain.

However, groups like the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO), led by Indian-origin peer Lord Indrajit Singh, believe "fringe" groups are misusing the word ethnicity through such a campaign.

"The NSO is actively engaged in the protection of human rights and religious freedom with the NSO Director (Lord Singh) serving as Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International Religious Freedom… They (Sikh Federation UK) are open about their separatist agenda and support for the creation of Khalistan,” the NSO said.

Meanwhile, the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which conducted a detailed consultation ahead of the next UK census, stresses that as the religion question will have a specific Sikh tick box response option, everyone who wishes to identify as Sikh in response to the ethnicity question will be able to do so through a write-in option in the next 10-year census.

"We do not comment on ongoing litigation. However, no group will be missed out in the digital-first 2021 Census," the ONS said.

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