America
Hindu temple vandalized in US; protests in India
New York/New Delhi, Feb 17
In the latest
attack targeting Hindu places of worship, a temple in the US was
vandalized on the eve of the celebration of Maha Shivaratri, triggering
strong reaction and protests in India.
Members of the Hindu
Temple Cultural Center in Bothell, 36 km from Seattle, in Washington
state were shocked to find a red swastika spray-painted on the temple
wall along with the words "Get Out" scrawled in large letters on Sunday.
The
Bothell temple incident comes ten days after President Barack Obama
criticised India at an inter-religious prayer meeting saying intolerance
there "would have shocked Gandhiji."
The Bothell Reporter
newspaper reported that the incident was under investigation but no
suspect has yet been identified according to Shari L. Ireton, a
spokesperson for Snohomish County sheriff.
"The timing of this
crime, occurring before a major Hindu festival, warrants special
attention from law enforcement," said Jay Kansara, Hindu American
Foundation's director of government relations. "We are encouraged by the
ongoing thorough investigation of the Bothell City Police Department."
In
the US, white supremacists have adopted the Nazi swastika as an
ideological symbol. KING 5 TV, an NBC-affiliated station in Seattle,
said: "In Hinduism, swastikas signified peace long before it became a
Nazi symbol. In this case, temple leaders say it's now being used not
just to hurt their believers but a neighborhood."
In Uttar
Pradesh's Kanpur city, activists of the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) and Bajrang Dal protested against the temple vandalisation,
while the Congress said the attack was a "slur" on the name of America
and expressed surprise that the Indian government had not reacted in the
matter.
"I am surprised that the United States president has not
reacted to this and am also surprised that the Indian government has
not reacted," Congress leader P.C. Chacko told IANS.
"It is a
slur on the name of America," he said adding: "It is very shocking. US
is a society which claims to be inclusive. They would have surely
reacted if something like this had happened in India."
"What
happened is totally unacceptable, US authorities must take stringent
action in the temple vandalizing incident and come out with a
statement," he said.
Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of
Hinduism in a statement in Nevada, said that it was shocking for the
hard-working, harmonious and peaceful Hindu community; who had made lot
of contributions to the nation and society; to receive such signals of
hatred and anger.
There has been a spate of anti-Hindu across
the US in recent months. In August, a idol of Shiva at the Vishwa Bhavan
Hindu Mandir in Georgia state was desecrated with black paint. The
phone lines of the temple in Monroe, were cut and graffiti with hate
messages were written on it. The local sheriff's office arrested two
people in connection with the attack.
Between July and October in
Loudon County in Virginia, police documented 17 separate incidents of
anti-Hindu vandalism, HAF said.
In response to these attacks, the
US Justice Department has mandated the inclusion of anti-Hindu hate
crimes as a category in crime-reporting forms starting in January.
In
an incident involving an Indian, but not directly linked to his
religion, 57-year-old Sureshbhai Patel was attacked by a police officer
in Madison in Alabama state and left partially paralysed. The officer
was dismissed from the police force.
In Bothell, a government-run school was also defaced with a swastika and the words, "Muslims Get Out," according to Q13 Fox.