CHINO HILLS, Calif. — The new desecration of an iconic Hindu temple in Southern California with anti-Hindu and anti-Indian govt graffiti has heightened considerations amongst South Asian teams following a slew of such incidents during the last yr.
Devotees who arrived early morning on March 8 on the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills had been stunned to seek out the phrases “Hindustan Murdabad,” which means that “loss of life to” or “down with” Hindus and India, scrawled on a crimson stone signal bearing the temple’s identify, mentioned Mehul Patel, a volunteer with the group.
Expletive-laden graffiti focused on India’s Top Minister Narendra Modi was once written on one of the vital outer brick partitions and abutting sidewalk, he mentioned. San Bernardino Sheriff’s officers have mentioned they’re investigating the incident as a hate crime and feature no longer known any suspects but.
Patel mentioned the incident “invoked a way of worry” amongst neighborhood individuals. The have an effect on was once felt as a long way away as India, the place maximum main media retailers reported the incident, and India’s Exterior Affairs ministry condemned the vandalism.
“We condemn such despicable acts within the most powerful phrases,” mentioned ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “We name upon the native legislation enforcement government to take stringent motion in opposition to the ones chargeable for those acts, and in addition be certain good enough safety to puts of worship.”
Patel mentioned the vandalized temple had just about 1,000 guests on a daily basis, with hundreds of other people collecting throughout Diwali and temple gala’s.
“We do have safety protocols in position, however any such violation nonetheless makes you consider carefully about how secure you truly are, particularly when you’ve got small children,” Patel mentioned.
The majestic temple, the most important in California, sits on a 20-acre lot alongside a highway, its arches and domes carved out of crimson sandstone and inner decked with white Italian marble. In October 2023, the group inbuilt Robbinsville, New Jersey, the most important Hindu temple outdoor India within the fashionable technology. The Swaminarayan sect, a department of Hinduism, oversees greater than 1,300 temples and 5,000 facilities world wide, consistent with the crowd’s web site.
This isn’t the primary time the worldwide Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, referred to as BAPS, has been hit through vandals. The group’s temple in Melville, New York, was once tagged with an identical writing on Sept. 16. 9 days later, their temple close to Sacramento was once hit, and there was once additionally an incident on the Newark, California, temple in December 2023. The ones incidents also are being investigated as hate crimes.
The denigration of Modi, beneath whom Hindu nationalism has surged in India, seems to be a commonplace thread in those vandalism incidents around the nation. Different non-BAPS Hindu temples within the U.S. have additionally been attacked not too long ago. In Hayward, California, Vijay’s Sherawali Temple, devoted to the Hindu Goddess Durga and run through a circle of relatives of immigrants from Fiji, was once vandalized in January 2024 with graffiti calling Modi a “terrorist” and with the phrases “Khalistan Zindabad” (Lengthy are living Khalistan).
Khalistan is the identify through which Sikh separatists consult with a sovereign state they hope to create in Indian state of Punjab, birthplace of Sikhism. A violent Khalistani insurgency in India was once quelled through the federal government in 1984; India has declared it a terrorist motion. Activists within the diaspora are recently keeping a nonbinding referendum throughout america to create an impartial Khalistan; balloting will happen in Los Angeles on March 23.
In the summertime of 2023, tensions escalated between India and Canada over allegations through Top Minister Justin Trudeau that the Indian govt had a hand within the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was once shot useless outdoor a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. In November 2023, the U.S. Division of Justice mentioned that an Indian govt legitimate plotted to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist chief, in New York who’s spearheading the Khalistan referendum. In August, the FBI opened an investigation right into a drive-by capturing that focused Satinder Buddy Singh Raju, a detailed affiliate of Nijjar, in Yolo County, California.
The temple vandalism incidents in Northern California closing yr had been condemned through native Sikh teams. Sikhs within the diaspora and in India are divided at the factor of Khalistan.
Right away after the incident in Southern California, the Coalition of Hindus of North The usa posted on X elevating the potential of a connection between the tagging incident and the impending Khalistan referendum in Los Angeles. Pushpita Prasad, a spokesperson for the crowd, mentioned Thursday that irrespective of who dedicated the crime, “this repeated attack at the freedom of Hindus to collect of their position of worship is unacceptable.”
“We move to a spot of worship to seek out solace,” she mentioned. “If that position turns into a goal, how do you to find solace there?”
Prasad known as for a strong dialogue on what’s using those assaults in opposition to Hindu temples and recognize that anti-Hindu hate exists. She known as for treating Hindu puts of worship similarly.
Some other South Asian workforce identified the perils of leaping to conclusions about perpetrators of against the law sooner than an investigation has concluded. With out proof, such assumptions best serve to additional divide communities, mentioned Prachi Patankar, board member of the interfaith Savera Coalition. Her workforce represents Indian American citizens who’re Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Dalit or the folks previously considered “untouchables” within the caste machine, and the ones unaffiliated with faith.
“Such incidents will have to by no means be used to scapegoat different minority spiritual communities such because the Sikh neighborhood, as it may end up in additional criminalization or repression of all the neighborhood,” she mentioned.
Patel mentioned it is crucial for the general public to keep in mind that Hindus aren’t a monolith and the Chino Hills temple is a nonprofit that doesn’t constitute any unmarried govt, chief or nation.
“We’re a Hindu temple in america,” he mentioned. “We’re Indian American citizens. However individuals who aren’t of Indian foundation who follow Hinduism worship right here as smartly.”
He hopes surveillance video, which confirmed two suspects within the act of scoping the world and tagging the valuables, will lend a hand apprehend them.
Participants of the group accrued in entrance in their temple on March 9 the place a clergyman chanted the “Shanthi Trail,” a blessing and prayer for peace.
“We prayed no longer only for our neighborhood, but additionally for the perpetrators,” Patel mentioned. “We consider in the correct of other people to precise themselves, however to get their message out in a calm and no longer in a hateful method.”
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