Another temple defaced in California
New Delhi, January 5
A Hindu temple in California was defaced with pro-Khalistan graffiti, two weeks after a prominent temple was vandalised in the same US state.
Unknown persons vandalised Vijay’s Sherawali Temple in Hayward in the Bay Area, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) said on Friday. It comes a few weeks after Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple in Newark was vandalised with anti-India graffiti.
“Another Bay Area Hindu temple attacked with pro-Khalistan graffiti. Vijay’s Sherawali Temple in Hayward sustained a copycat defacement just two weeks after the Swaminarayan Mandir attack and one week after a theft at the Shiv Durga temple in the same area,” HAF posted on X on Friday. HAF said it had contacted the Alameda police department and civil rights division.
In March last year, a Khalistani separatist mob had disrupted the functioning of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.
On December 23, the wall of Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple in California was defaced and the US State Department condemned the vandalism. The Newark police department had also promised to hold the culprits accountable but there has been no update so far. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had then said, “We are worried. Outside India, the extremism and separatist forces should not get space. Our consulate has lodged a complaint with the (US) Government and the police there over whatever happened, and I believe the matter is being inquired.”
