Greater Vancouver's Sikh community is abuzz over the recent behaviour of a controversial leader of a religious sect in India.

Protests erupted in India five days ago after photos of Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh — who is not Sikh — appeared in newspapers showing him dressed as Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikhs' last spiritual leader.

Hundreds of protesters in the northern part of the country brandished swords as they expressed their anger over what they see as sacrilege.

It's an issue that has stirred up Sikhs around the world.

In Greater Vancouver, callers to Punjabi-language radio stations have been expressing their outrage, and a forum has been organized at the Sukh Sagar temple in New Westminster.

"It affects everybody, like if a Christian is sitting in Canada, but the Vatican is in Rome, but I mean it's going to affect a Christian sitting here also, isn't it," said the temple's Bikramjit Singh Sandhar.

"And it's the same sort of thing with the Sikhs. Right now, what has happened there is affecting us everywhere also."

The editor of the Chardi Kala newspaper in Surrey, Gurpreet Sahota, said that while Canadian Sikhs are reacting peacefully, it's a very different situation in India.

"The thing is that the Sikhs can't tolerate somebody playing like a guru or somebody duplicating them. Really, if they are in front of him, they will kill him."