Hindu temples attacked in Texas and Melbourne, hate crime suspected

A spateof attacks on Hindu temples in the US state of Texas and Australia’s Melbourne has triggered concerns among the Indian community living abroad, even as authorities probe for any possible hate crime.The first incident took place at Shri Omkarnath Temple in the Brazos Valley, Texas, on January 11, KBTX-TV reported on Friday.

According to reports, the temple was raided by burglars who stole some of the valuables from the premises, leaving the Indian community in a state of shock.

According to a video captured by security cameras inside the temple, a person was seen going past the shrine and heading straight to the donation box. The suspect then used the temple's cart to wheel it out the door.

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“There was a sense of invasion, that sense of loss of privacy when something like this happened to us,” Srinivasa Sunkari, a Board member for the Brazos Valley Shri Omkarnath Temple said, reports PTI news agency.

“This is the only Hindu temple in the Brazos Valley, a place for local Hindus to worship, and find peace and community.”

‘“There was a break-in. They broke in through the side window and what was immediately apparent was missing is our donation box and a safe in which we keep our valuables,” Sunkari said.

He said that the priest and his family who live in an apartment right behind the temple are safe.

The second incident was reported from Australia’s Carrum Downs city in Melbourne where the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple was vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti.

The devotees who came to the temple for prayer first noticed the ghastly act during the three-day 'Thai Pongal' festival being celebrated by Australia's Tamil Hindu community, The Australia Today news reported.

It came just a week after the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in the country's Mill Park was defaced with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, during its press briefing on Thursday, said that the Indian authorities have raised this issue with their counterparts in Australia.

"Recently a couple of temples have been vandalised in Australia. We condemned these incidents. Both are near Melbourne. We strongly condemnthese actions," foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"These actions have also been publicly condemned by Australian leaders, community leaders and religious associations there," he added.

The Australian High Commissioner to India condemned the incident on Friday and asserted that the Melbourne authorities are probing the incident.

"Like India, Australia is a proud, multicultural country. We have been shocked at the vandalism of two Hindu temples in Melbourne, and Australian authorities are investigating" Barry O'Farrell tweeted, tagging India's foreign minister S Jaishankar and the ministry.

"Our strong support for freedom of expression does not include hate speech or violence," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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