NE Watch Desk
The Hindu American Foundation or HAF reported that a Hindu temple in California was defaced with pro-Khalistan graffiti, marking the second such incident in United States in recent weeks.
As per the organization, the concerned Hindu temple is the Vijay’s Sherawali Temple in Hayward, CA or the Bay Area.
To draw attention towards recurrent acts of vandalism targeting Hindu places of worship, along with the recent one, the organisation shared a photo on social media on January 5.
The images depicted the graffiti scrawled on the Sherawali Temple. The post expressed concerns over these repeated acts of temple defacement and called for collective action in response.
SEE The X Post Here:
https://x.com/HinduAmerican/status/1743084055371870692?s=20
The HAF added “just two weeks after the Swaminarayan Mandir attack” in California and “one week after a theft at the Shiv Durga temple in the same area” the Sherawali Temple “sustained a copycat defacement”.
After the vandalism incident, the Hindu organization is in touch with temple leaders as well as with the Alameda Police Department and Civil Rights Division.
Inquiring the incident of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple in California’s Newark on December 23, as a probable hate crime, the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs had condemned the vandalism act.
The incident involved the exterior wall of the Hindu temple being defaced with anti-India graffiti.
It also welcomed efforts by the Newark Police Department “to ensure that those responsible are held accountable”.
Images shared on social media showed the word Khalistan was spray-painted on a signpost outside the temple, along with other objectionable graffiti.
