India Outraged at Defacing of Temple in U.S.

New Delhi: India has strongly condemned the defacing of the Swaminarayan Temple at Newark in California with “anti-India graffiti” and has asked American authorities to take prompt action to bring the culprits to book.

The Indian Consulate in San Francisco said “the incident has hurt the sentiments of the Indian community”.

It added, “We have pressed for quick investigation and prompt action against the vandals by the US authorities in this matter”.

Reacting to the incident, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Saturday that anti-India extremist and separatist elements should not be given space outside the country and that the Indian mission has complained to the police and authorities in the US following which a probe is on there.

According to media reports, the temple was defaced with pro-Khalistan slogans against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the wall of the temple.

The American Hindu Foundation has reportedly insisted that the incident should be investigated as a hate crime and said the Newark Police Department and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division were informed about it. It may be noted that pro-Khalistan elements in the US and Canada have been targeting Indian diplomatic missions and Hindu Temples but authorities in these countries have not yet taken adequate action to tackle such elements.

It may be noted that far from adequately cracking down on such elements, the United States has instead expressed concerns on an alleged plot to kill US citizen and pro-Khalistan extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil in which it claims two Indian nationals were involved. The US is yet to take any significant action against Pannun who has been spewing terror threats against India including against airline Air India and the Indian Parliament. So far as Canada is concerned, the MEA Spokesperson had this Thursday once again referred to the “core issue” of the “space provided to extremists, terrorists and anti-India elements in Canada”.

New Delhi had earlier this month also said it is taking the threats issued against India by Pannun seriously and has taken up the matter both the US and Canada.  India had also said that Pannun is wanted by Indian (investigative) agencies and that India has “flagged concerns” (with the US) about threats made by extremists. Pannun has both American and Canadian citizenship.

The American Hindu foundation has reportedly insisted that the incident should be investigated as a hate crime and said the Newark Police Department and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division were informed about it.

It may be noted that pro-Khalistan elements in the United States and Canada have been targeting Indian diplomatic missions and Hindu Temples but authorities in these countries have not yet taken adequate action to tackle such elements.

It may be noted that far from adequately cracking down on such elements, the United States has instead expressed concerns on an alleged plot to kill United States citizen and pro-Khalistan extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil in which it claims two Indian nationals were involved.

The United States is yet to take any significant action against Pannun who has been spewing terror threats against India including against airline Air India and the Indian Parliament.

So far as Canada is concerned, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson had this Thursday once again referred to the “core issue” of the “space provided to extremists, terrorists and anti-India elements in Canada”.

New Delhi had earlier this month also said it is taking the threats issued against India by Pannun seriously and has taken up the matter both the United States and Canada.  

India had also said that Pannun is wanted by a number of Indian (investigative) agencies.

Moreover, India has “flagged concerns” (with the United States) about threats made by extremists.

Pannun has both American and Canadian citizenship.