iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Protesting against the vandalism of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, lawmakers joined community leaders of Queens in New York to stage a protest outside a Hindu temple. The protesters said that they suspect that the incident is a hate crime.
The incident took place on August 3 when unidentified persons allegedly toppled the Gandhi statue outside Shri Tulsi Mandir in Richmond Hill. Passersby found the statue face down and in pieces – its arm was cracked and hand was broken.
This is not the first such incident in New York. The Indian-American community got shocked in February 2022, when an 8-feet bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located at Union Square near Manhattan, was vandalized. The Consulate General of India condemned the incident and had taken it up with the local authorities.
The statue had been donated by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation. In January 2022, another Gandhi statue met with a similar fate. The statue located in the Central Park of the City of Davis in Northern California had been sawed off at the ankles and defaced.
Jenifer Rajkumar, a New York state assemblywoman and the first South Asian woman to be elected to the New York state office, has demanded that the incident should be probed as a hate crime against Hindus.
In a statement posted on her official twitter handle, she said, “Hindus believe not just intolerance, but in one step more than tolerance — actively loving and respecting people of different backgrounds and faiths. This was Mahatma Gandhi’s dream – a peaceful, loving world… The desecration of Gandhi statues and anti-Hindu hate crimes will not be tolerated in Richmond Hill or anywhere in New York State.”
Speaker Adrienne Adams, speaking on the incident of vandalism of Mahatma Gandhi statue in Richmond Hill said: “I’m horrified that a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalized outside of a Hindu temple in my district last week. Hate has no place in our community, Queens, or New York City. I join my colleagues, community, and faith leaders to unequivocally denounce this troubling act of hate. As a city, we must root out hate with love and acceptance. The Council will continue to invest in preventing hate crimes and supporting the communities, like mine, that too often experience it. We will continue working together in unity for the safer communities we all want.”
Rajkumar, in a statement posted on Twitter, has said that three people allegedly vandalized and toppled a Mahatma Gandhi statue outside the temple.
She said: “A central tenet of Hinduism is inclusivity and mutual respect toward people of all faiths. Hindus believe not just intolerance, but in one step more than tolerance – actively loving and respecting people of different backgrounds and faiths. This was Mahatma Gandhi’s dream – a peaceful, loving world. We have achieved Gandhi’s dream in Richmond Hill, where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews and Christians live together in harmony, often on the same block.”
She added that the desecration of Gandhi statues and anti-Hindu hate crimes will not be tolerated in Richmond Hill or anywhere in New York State. At a time when “our city” is experiencing a 127% increase in hate crimes, elected officials and community leaders will gather together to condemn hate crimes against any group based on their religion or ethnicity.”
The Assemblywoman has called for the vandalism to be invested as a hate crime. In June, Rajkumar had passed a law establishing the first-ever Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission in New York State, to address the problem of rising hate crimes against the Asian community and tend to the needs of the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States.
