Gandhi statue outside Hindu temple in New York vandalised i

Gandhi statue outside Hindu temple in New York vandalised in possible hate crime: Reports

Back To Homepage Subscribe To RSS Feed

Breaking News

Deputy CM Ensures Land ROR Distribution for Bondas, Reviews Bonda Ghati Progress Iswar Addanki Malkangiri,Odisha,21.12.2024 -Deputy Chief Minister Smt. Parvathi Parida reviewed the distribution of land and common forest titles under the Vasundhara Yojana in Bonda areas like Mudulipada, Baddural, Andrahal, and...
Emerging Climate Leaders Share Insights from COP29 By Our Staff Reporter Bhubaneswar, Dec 20: A dissemination meeting was organized today by Youth4Water Plus, with support from UNICEF Odisha, to share key takeaways and experiences from the...
108-foot monumental National Flag unveiled at Rama Devi Women’s University, President Droupadi Murmu’s alma mater By Manoj Jena Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: A 108-foot monumental national flag, installed by the Flag Foundation of India, was unveiled on Wednesday at Rama Devi Women’s University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha....
IMFA Joins Hands with JSW Green Energy for Renewable Power Supply By Swagatika Bhutia Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA), a leader in ferrochrome production, has entered a joint venture with JSW Green Energy to secure renewable...
India’s first cyclone-resistant 220kv transmission line commissioned in Odisha By Payal Banarjee Bhubaneswar, Dec. 17: Empowertrans, a Bhubaneswar-based electrical engineering firm, has successfully commissioned India’s first cyclone-resistant 220kV double-circuit (D/C) transmission line in coastal Odisha. The announcement was made...

Gandhi statue outside Hindu temple in New York vandalised in possible hate crime: Reports

August 19

17:09 2022

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by indadmin

NEW YORK, AUG 19: In a possible hate crime, unidentified persons have destroyed a handcrafted statue of Mahatma Gandhi with a sledgehammer at a Hindu temple here after vandalising it earlier this month, media reports said on Friday.

Surveillance video shows a person thrashing a statue of Gandhi with a sledgehammer on Tuesday, before smashing the head off and toppling it over, according to cbsnews.com.

Minutes later, a group of six stomp on it and take turns hammering the statue before taking off, the report said.

“To see them coming after us like this is very painful,” Lakhram Maharaj, the founder of Shri Tulsi Mandir, situated in South Richmond Hill was quoted as saying in the report.

Maharaj discovered the Gandhi statue was reduced to rubble on Wednesday morning. The word “dog” was spray painted both in front of the temple and down the block, it said. The same Gandhi statue was vandalised two weeks ago, investigating officials said.

“When the Gandhi statue was vandalised, that really flew in the face of all of our beliefs and it’s very disturbing for the community,” Assembly member Jenifer Rajkumar said in the report.

The New York Police Department is investigating both incidents as possible hate crimes, media reports said. Maharaj says many in the community are now afraid to go to the temple.

“I cannot show the congregation that I am worried because if I show them that I’m worrying and I’m not strong, how will they be strong?” the report quoted him as saying.

The temple authorities cannot afford to replace the Gandhi statue, because it was handcrafted and cost about USD 4,000, the report said.

“I want to know why they did it,” Maharaj said. This is not the first time that a statue of Gandhi was desecrated in the US. In February this year, an 8-foot-high Gandhi statue, located in Manhattan’s Union Square, was defaced by unknown persons.

In December 2020, Khalistani-supporters had desecrated a Gandhi statue in Washington, DC in front of the Indian Embassy. The then White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, had termed the incident as ‘terrible’.

-PTI