Yet another Hindu temple has been desecrated in Canada after being spraypainted with anti-India graffiti late on Tuesday night.
This time the target of the vandalism was the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in the town of Windsor in the province of Ontario.
A spokesperson for the BAPS organization told the Hindustan Times they were “very shocked by the anti-Indian graffiti on our mandir walls.”
In an email to members of the Hindu Federation in Canada, a representative of the BAPS organization said the “incident was reported to the local police for their immediate necessary action.” Images attached to the email showed slogans against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is the fifth such incident where a temple has been defaced with such graffiti since July last year.
On February 14, the target was the Shri Ram Mandir in the town of Mississauga in the GTA. Slogans spraypainted included those attacking India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and describing the founder of the separatist Khalistan movement, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, as a “martyr.”
Prior to that on January 30, the Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton was similarly desecrated. Before that, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill, was defaced in July last year. The 20-foot tall bronze statue was situated in the temple’s Peace Park. Weeks later, in September, an episode of such vandalisation occurred at the front entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto.
{{/usCountry}}Prior to that on January 30, the Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton was similarly desecrated. Before that, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located at the Vishnu Mandir in Richmond Hill, was defaced in July last year. The 20-foot tall bronze statue was situated in the temple’s Peace Park. Weeks later, in September, an episode of such vandalisation occurred at the front entrance to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto.
{{/usCountry}}Statues of Mahatma Gandhi have been targeted for vandalism with a similar modus operandi. The latest such incident involved the decapitation of a Gandhi sculpture located on the campus of the Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. That incident occurred on March 27.
Four days earlier, on March 23, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located at the City Hall in the town of Hamilton in Ontario was defaced and anti-India and pro-Khalistan graffiti spraypainted near its base. That incident is being investigated by Hamilton Police’s Hate Crime Unit.
None of these incidents have so far resulted in any arrests.