A popular Hindu temple in California was vandalised on Saturday, stimulating condemnation from India which called it a “despicable” act and advised United States authorities to do something about it versus those accountable.
The attack on the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills, a city in southern California, came days before a prepared “Khalistani referendum” in Los Angeles in March– a non-binding choose an independent Sikh homeland in India’s northern Punjab area.
According to numerous media reports, the temple was ruined with “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Modi” graffiti.
Randhir Jaiswal, representative for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, stated New Delhi was deeply worried about the event and required much better security at locations of praise.
” We condemn such despicable acts in the greatest terms,” he stated. “We hire the regional police authorities to take rigid action versus those accountable for these acts, and likewise guarantee appropriate security to locations of praise.”
BAPS, the organisation that handles the temple, stated it would not enable hate to divide neighborhoods.
” In the face of another Mandir desecration, this time in Chino Hills, CA, the Hindu neighborhood stands unfaltering versus hate,” BAPS Public Affairs composed on X.
” Together with the neighborhood in Chino Hills and Southern California, we will never ever let dislike settle. Our typical humankind and faith will guarantee that peace and empathy dominate.”
The current attack has actually drawn condemnation from Hindu groups in the United States, in the middle of increasing issues over comparable events in current months.
The Union of Hindus of The United States And Canada (CoHNA), a US-based advocacy group, likewise condemned the attack, connecting it to a string of current temple vandalism cases and requiring an examination.
” Another Hindu temple vandalised– this time the renowned BAPS temple in Chino Hills, CA,” the group published on X. “Not unexpected this takes place as the day for a so-called Khalistan referendum in LA draws close.”
The Khalistani motion desires an independent Sikh state took of India and go back to India and Pakistan’s self-reliance in 1947 when the concept was pressed forward in settlements preceding the partition of the Punjab area in between the 2 brand-new nations.
The Sikh faith was established in Punjab in the late 15th century and presently has about 25 million fans worldwide. Sikhs form a bulk of Punjab’s population however are a minority in India, making up 2 percent of its population of 1.4 billion. Sikh separatists require that their homeland Khalistan, implying “the land of the pure”, be developed out of Punjab.
The need has actually resurfaced lot of times, a lot of plainly throughout a violent revolt in the 1970s and 1980s which paralysed Punjab for over a years.
A number of Hindu temples in The United States and Canada have actually been vandalised with graffiti and mottos connected to the Khalistan motion.
In September in 2015, an indication board and driveway of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) temple in Melville, Suffolk County, was ruined with spray paint.
Vandals composed “anti-Hindu” messages that likewise targeted Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, the authorities stated.
The BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Toronto’s Etobicoke in 2022 was ruined with Khalistan graffiti. Authorities at the BAPS temple in Toronto at that time verified the graffiti and stated “anti-social components” lagged it as they provided an appeal for peace.