In yet another case of intolerance in the United States, a Hindu temple was vandalised in Washington state and hate messages were sprayed on the temple walls, sending shock waves through the Indian-American community in the area.
Washington: In yet another case of intolerance in the United States, a Hindu temple was vandalised in Washington state and hate messages were sprayed on the temple walls, sending shock waves through the Indian-American community in the area.
The incident has sent the local law enforcement authorities into a tizzy and has forced them into launching an investigation to bring to book the unidentified culprits. Some of the city’s top officials also visited the temple to take stock of the situation.
When members of the Hindu Temple Cultural Center in Bothell, 36 km from Seattle, went there on Sunday they found a swastika painted on it and "Get Out" scrawled in large letters with spray paint. The place of worship is said to be amongst the largest temples in north-west America.
The Hindu American Foundation has condemned the incident. Reports say that lately there have been several cases of vandalism of Hindu temples in the US. The incident will come as a major egg on the face of American leadership, as just a few days ago US President Barack Obama had said that the ‘acts of intolerance’ experienced by religious faiths of all types in India in the past few years would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi. There has been a lot of debate over how the US first needs to put its own house in order before commenting on and giving sermons to others.
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." The Bothell temple incident comes 10 days after President Barack Obama criticised India at an inter-religious prayer meeting saying intolerance there "would have shocked Gandhiji."
"I was paranoid to say the truth, this just doesn't look right to me," temple member Jay Araman told Seattle's KIRO TV, a CBS affiliate. "He fears the red graffiti, sprawled across the outside of the temple, could be a sign that someone is planning something violent," the station added. Echoing the fears, Thampipillai Thilakarjah told Q13 Fox TV station that his 11-year-old son was scared to visit the temple.
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 Shivratri, 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."
There has been a spate of anti-Hindu incidents across the US in recent months. In August a murti of Shiva at the Vishwa Bhavan Hindu Mandir in Georgia state was desecrated with black paint. The phone lines of the temple in Monroe, near Georgia, were cut and graffiti wits 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.
