New York, Aug 19 : A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the front of the temple in New York has been destroyed and toppled in the second assault on the memorial this month .an organization of local volunteers has taken action to safeguard it. The incident that occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday morning was just the latest in the sequence of incidents against Gandhi statues in the US .
Six men took down the statue of Sri Tulsi Mandir with a Sledgehammer and painted hateful words around it and along the roadway according to reports in the media which quote police.
The statue was attacked earlier on the 3rd of August and was smashed to pieces as per the Queens Daily Eagle.
Police have released a surveillance video of the men between the ages of 25 and 30 that are believed to be the perpetrators of being involved in the attack.
The suspects fled from the incident in the white Mercedes Benz and in a dark-coloured vehicle which could be an Toyota Camry used as a hire vehicle, according to police.
Assembly Member Jennifer Rajkumar, the first Hindu elected to the New York State legislature, said to CBS New York TV on Thursday: “When the Gandhi statue was attacked, it really went in the of the face of the majority of our beliefs.It’s extremely troubling for the community.”
“To be aware that Gandhi is a symbol of peace and that someone could come in and just attack the statue and then vandalize it, it’s extremely sad,” temple founder Pandit Maharaj said to the New York Post.
In the meantime, a volunteer watch group The Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol posted on Twitter on Thursday, that its members have increased their presence around the temple.
“We have increased our presence at Tulsi Mandir and were happy to observe (police police from) the 106 Precinct present as well.
A huge thank you to the four volunteer police officers who were out for seven hours over the course of the night,” it said in an update.
Following the attack, Rajkumar had brought together several elected officials among them House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks, to condemn the attack and call for police action.
“Acts of hate have no place in our society and in our nation and those responsible for them must be accountable.” Meeks was quoted in the Daily Eagle.
The temple is situated in South Richmond Park, an area with many people of Indian descent.
A mixture of leftists as well as Khalistanis have targeted Gandhi statues throughout the US often through circulating petitions to get rid of the statues, as in the instance of the other statue in New York City that was also vandalized by putting an overhang on it and, in other instances, by causing damage to the statues.
During protests over excessive police in February 2020 the statue in Washington featured savage personal attacks against Gandhi as well as anti-Indian slogans sprayed on it.
It was again vandalised in December of the same year by pro-Khalistani elements in an unrest in favor of the farmers protests in India.
In a separate incident an additional incident, a statue of Gandhi was cut off at its leg and fell over, while its head split in half in Davis, California, in January of last year.
The statue had been vandalized with slogans in June of 2020.
In an interview with New York Post, Rajkumar stated that “Hindu hatred is increasing”.
A recent report from the Network Contagion Lab at Rutgers University revealed evidence of an increase in hatred-based speech directed towards the Hindu community, and blamed White supremacists for the problem.
However the look of the suspects in the video released by the police appears to be White.
Maharaj also told the local media outlet QNS: “The first time it happened, the individual was speaking Spanish.This time they were speaking in Hindi.”
Rajkumar said to QNS: “I have spoken with officials across the nation.We are all committed to doubling our efforts to stop hatred against Hindus.”
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