Ritu Jha-
A Hindu temple was defaced with graffiti describing India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a terrorist. The incident that occurred on Dec 21 night has shocked the community.
The temple of Shri Swaminarayan Sarvopari Siddhant Digvijay Trust represents Gujarat which happens to be Modi’s home state and this could be the reason behind the graffiti being made on this temple’s wall. The vandals who made the graffiti and are yet to be identified also wrote ‘Khalistan’ on the temple’s wall.
Though the police did not respond to calls or emails of indica, Dr. K. Srikar Reddy, the Consul General of India in San Francisco commented on social media platform X: “We strongly condemn the defacing of SMVS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at Newark, California with anti-India graffiti. This incident has hurt the sentiments of the Indian community. We have pressed for quick investigation and prompt action against the vandals by the US authorities in this matter.”
Mahesh Patel, a community leader, who lives in Fremont and hails from Gujarat told indica, that he learned about the incident early in the morning. “This is Swaminarayan temple, not the BAPS sect, is located near Cedar Blvd. in Newark, California. They (Khalistanis) are raising their voice and defaming Prime Minister Modi through graffiti,” he said.
Patel who is the owner of famous Suju’s Coffee & Tea in the Bay Area told indica, “This manner of protest is deplorable. Defacing the temple with such defamatory and inciteful messages is not acceptable.”
“The vandals seem to know that Modi is from Gujarat and chose this location to send their message across. The graffiti was made near the side of the entrance of the temple where there is no CCTV. This is a very sad development,” he added. “There are many big billboards and posters about their Khalistan referendum coming in Jan next year and they are trying to create fear in the community. But why should we be afraid? They can vandalize the Indian consulate in San Francisco and they can do anything but we are not afraid.” In March, Sikh protestors smashed windows and clashed with police at the General Consulate of India in San Francisco.
While the incident is under investigation by the Newark Police, it has not yet been classified as a hate crime.
Councilmember Mike Bucci assured the community ohttps://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/vandalism-of-newark-hindu-temple-highlights-geopolitical-issue/f the city’s dedication to resolving the matter, expressing disappointment over the incident and the commitment to uncovering the responsible party reported CBS.
