Hindu temple wall defaced with pro-Khalistan slogans in US, India demands prompt action

A Hindu temple in California, United States, was defaced with pro-Khalistan and anti-India slogans. The incident took place in Newark city on Thursday night.

"One of the devotees, who lives close to the shrine, discovered anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti in black ink on an exterior wall of the building, and the local administration was immediately informed," Bhargav Raval, the spokesperson for the temple administration, told news agency ANI.

Pictures shared by the Hindu-American Foundation on X (formerly Twitter) showed slogans scribbled on the walls of the Swaminarayan Mandir Vasana Sanstha. Hateful slogans were written on the wall of the temple against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We are insisting that this should be investigated as a hate crime," the foundation wrote as it shared these images.

India strongly condemned the incident and said that it has sought quick action.

"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," the Consulate General of India in San Francisco said on X (formerly Twitter).

This, however, was not the first time a Hindu temple was defaced in the US. Such incidents have occurred previously as well in the country as well as in neighbouring Canada.

Moreover, the incident comes close on the heels of the US Justice Department unsealing an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

The Justice Department claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by US authorities, according to prosecutors.

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