The recent desecration of an iconic Hindu temple in Southern California with anti-Hindu and anti-Indian government graffiti has heightened concerns among South Asian groups following a slew of such incidents over the past year.
Devotees who arrived early morning on March 8 at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills were shocked to find the words “Hindustan Murdabad,” which means “death to” or “down with” Hindus and India, scrawled on a pink stone sign bearing the temple’s name, said Mehul Patel, a volunteer with the organization.
Expletive-laden graffiti targeting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was written on one of the outer brick walls and abutting sidewalk, he said. San Bernardino Sheriff’s officials have said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime and have not identified any suspects yet.
Patel said the incident “invoked a sense of fear” among community members. The impact was felt as far away as India, where most major media outlets reported the incident, and India's External Affairs ministry condemned the vandalism.
“We condemn such despicable acts in the strongest terms,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. "We call upon the local law enforcement authorities to take stringent action against those responsible for these acts, and also ensure adequate security to places of worship.”
Patel said the vandalized temple had nearly 1,000 visitors every day, with thousands of people gathering during Diwali and temple festivals.
“We do have security protocols in place, but such a violation still makes you think twice about how safe you really are, especially if you have young children," Patel said.
The majestic temple, the largest in California, sits on a 20-acre lot along a freeway, its arches and domes carved out of pink sandstone and interior decked with white Italian marble. In October 2023, the organization built in Robbinsville, New Jersey, the largest Hindu temple outside India in the modern era. The Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism, oversees more than 1,300 temples and 5,000 centers around the world, according to the group's website.
This is not the first time the global Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, has been hit by vandals. The organization’s temple in Melville, New York, was tagged with similar writing on Sept. 16. Nine days later, their temple near Sacramento was hit, and there was also an incident at the Newark, California, temple in December 2023. Those incidents are also being investigated as hate crimes.
The denigration of Modi, under whom Hindu nationalism has surged in India, appears to be a common thread in these vandalism incidents across the country. Other non-BAPS Hindu temples in the U.S. have also been attacked recently. In Hayward, California, Vijay’s Sherawali Temple, dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Durga and run by a family of immigrants from Fiji, was vandalized in January 2024 with graffiti calling Modi a “terrorist” and with the words “Khalistan Zindabad” (Long live Khalistan).
Khalistan is the name by which Sikh separatists refer to a sovereign state they hope to create in Indian state of Punjab, birthplace of Sikhism. A violent Khalistani insurgency in India was quelled by the government in 1984; India has declared it a terrorist movement. Activists in the diaspora are currently holding a nonbinding referendum across the United States to create an independent Khalistan; voting will take place in Los Angeles on March 23.
In the summer of 2023, tensions escalated between India and Canada over allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Indian government had a hand in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that an Indian government official plotted to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader, in New York who is spearheading the Khalistan referendum. In August, the FBI opened an investigation into a drive-by shooting that targeted Satinder Pal Singh Raju, a close associate of Nijjar, in Yolo County, California.
The temple vandalism incidents in Northern California last year were condemned by local Sikh groups. Sikhs in the diaspora and in India are divided on the issue of Khalistan.
Immediately after the incident in Southern California, the Coalition of Hindus of North America posted on X raising the possibility of a connection between the tagging incident and the upcoming Khalistan referendum in Los Angeles. Pushpita Prasad, a spokesperson for the group, said Thursday that regardless of who committed the crime, “this repeated assault on the freedom of Hindus to gather in their place of worship is unacceptable.”
“We go to a place of worship to find solace,” she said. “If that place becomes a target, how do you find solace there?”
Prasad called for a robust discussion on what is driving these attacks against Hindu temples and acknowledge that anti-Hindu hate exists. She called for treating Hindu places of worship equally.
Another South Asian group pointed out the perils of jumping to conclusions about perpetrators of a crime before an investigation has concluded. Without evidence, such assumptions only serve to further divide communities, said Prachi Patankar, board member of the interfaith Savera Coalition. Her group represents Indian Americans who are Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Dalit or the people formerly regarded as “untouchables” in the caste system, and those unaffiliated with religion.
“Such incidents should never be used to scapegoat other minority religious communities such as the Sikh community, because it can lead to further criminalization or repression of the entire community,” she said.
Patel said it is important for the public to understand that Hindus are not a monolith and the Chino Hills temple is a nonprofit that does not represent any single government, leader or country.
“We are a Hindu temple in the United States,” he said. “We are Indian Americans. But people who are not of Indian origin who practice Hinduism worship here as well.”
He hopes surveillance video, which showed two suspects in the act of scoping the area and tagging the property, will help apprehend them.
Members of the organization gathered in front of their temple on March 9 where a priest chanted the “Shanthi Path,” a blessing and prayer for peace.
“We prayed not just for our community, but also for the perpetrators,” Patel said. “We believe in the right of people to express themselves, but to get their message out in a peaceful and not in a hateful way.”