New Delhi: A month after a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in New York was vandalised twice, videos emerged Thursday of a Hindu temple being defaced with anti-India graffiti in Canada.
In what is being perceived as a hate crime, the gates of BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto, one of the largest temples in Canada, were spray-painted with the words “Khalistan zindabad” (long live Khalistan) and “Hindustan murdabad” (death to India).
High Commissioner for Canada in India, Cameron MacKay, as well as the Indian embassy in Canada were quick to condemn the act of vandalism.
“I join other Canadians in condemning this act of vandalism at the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto. Hate has no place in Canada, and all places of worship should be respected,” said MacKay.
Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Canada urged local authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the perpetrators.
The BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir also issued a statement Thursday appealing for peace and termed the unidentified perpetrators as “anti-social elements”.
“We are shocked and saddened by the anti-India graffiti at the gates of the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto, Canada by anti-social elements,” read a statement from the temple’s website.
It is unclear whether a local investigation into the matter has been initiated.
The incident comes a month after six men destroyed a handcrafted statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside a temple in Queens, New York, using a sledgehammer. The road near the temple in Queens, where the incident took place, was also sprayed with obscene words.
The same statue had been vandalised two weeks prior, on 3 August, prompting community-wide outrage over increasing hate crimes across the country.
Multiple cases of vandalism in US, Canada
There have been multiple cases of vandalism across the US and Canada in recent years, especially those of Mahatma Gandhi.
In July, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a Hindu temple in Richmond Hill, Canada, was spray-painted with the words “Khalistan” and “rapist”.
In February this year, an 8-foot-high Gandhi statue, located in Manhattan’s Union Square, was defaced. In December 2020, Khalistani-supporters had desecrated a Gandhi statue in Washington, DC, in front of the Indian embassy.
In January 2019, a deity at the Swaminarayan Temple in Kentucky, US was sprayed with black paint and the walls of the temple defaced with obscene messages.
Also read: Months after Gujarat JCB photo op, Boris got donation from firm’s boss, spent it on his wedding