Swaminarayan temple in US ‘vandalised’

New York/New Delhi: The Indian consulate in New York described the alleged vandalism at BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir at Melville as “unacceptable” and raised the matter with US law enforcement authorities to initiate prompt action against the perpetrators.

“The vandalism of the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Melville, New York, is unacceptable; The Consulate @IndiainNewYork is in touch with the community and has raised the matter with U.S. law enforcement authorities for prompt action against the perpetrators of this heinous act,” the consulate said in a post on social platform X.

According to videos shared online, expletives have been sprayed on the road and the signage outside the temple premises.

Melville is about 28 km from the 1600-seater Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a mega community event on September 22. The event is a part of theprime minister's visit to the United States. The Hindu American Foundation urged the US Justice Department to investigate the act and said the incident comes as a large Indian community gathering was planned in nearby Nassau County over the upcoming weekend. The foundation also said the incident is similar to recent acts of vandalism on its temples in California and Canada. "Gurpatwant Pannun, of "Sikhs for Justice," recently posted a video threatening Hindu and Indian institutions, including HAF, as the community event approaches.

The vandalism is similar to that seen in attacks on temples in New York, California and Canada & called out by @CongressmanRaja @RoKhanna @ShriThanedar @PramilaJayapal @BeraForCongress @shuvmajumdar and other political leaders,” Hindu American Foundation wrote on X. Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation called the act as “absolute cowardice” that was aimed to “air hatred for an elected leader”.

Reacting to the incident, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) in a press release said, “strongly condemns these acts” and “prays for peace amongst all communities”. The trust said it is working to cooperate with the US authorities to support their investigation into this alleged “hate crime”.