Mahatma Gandhi statue in New York vandalised
A STATUE of Mahatma Gandhi outside a temple in Queens, New York was destroyed by miscreants in a second such attack in two weeks.
Reports said that six men smashed the Gandhi statue to pieces around 1:30 am on Tuesday (16) and painted it with obscenities.
The 111th Street’s road near the temple in Queens where the incident took place was also sprayed with obscene words.
On August 3, the same statue, standing outside the Shri Tulsi Mandir for 7 years, had been knocked over, prompting community-wide outrage over increasing hate crimes across the country.
The second attack saw the statue completely demolished. Suspects, described to be 25 to 30 years old, went at it with a sledgehammer, according to the police.
‘To know that Gandhi represents peace and somebody would come and just target the statue and vandalize it, it’s very sad,’ Pandit Lakhram Maharaj, the founder of the Shri Tulsi Mandir in South Richmond Hill, was quoted in the Queens Courier.
New York State Assembly member Jennifer Rajkumar tweeted condemning the incident and of working towards peaceful ways to ‘combat anti-Hindu hate’. She also called for ‘the perpetrators to be apprehended swiftly, charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law’.
According to a CBS News report, hate crime in the city has gone up to 15.7% as compared to last year.
A Rutgers University report also finds evidence of sharply increasing hate speech directed towards the Hindu community on social media by mostly white supremacists.
On 14 July this year, in a similar incident, a Mahatma Gandhi statue was vandalized in Canada which saw widespread condemnation. In February this year, another life-sized Gandhi statue was destroyed in Manhattan, NYC.
India on Friday strongly condemned the ‘despicable action’ and took up the matter with the US authorities to ensure those responsible for the act are held accountable.
The NYPD has asked for the public’s assistance in ascertaining the whereabouts of the miscreants and urged anyone with information related to the incident to call its Crime Stoppers Hotline or submit their tips at Crime Stoppers website.
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar in a statement on Thursday added, ‘In an act outraging the entire Queens community and peace-loving people worldwide, the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside Shri Tulsi Mandir was vandalised for a second time.’
‘This time, the statue was totally destroyed and graffitied with obscene names. Vandals also graffitied the mandir grounds and 111th Street asphalt,’ the Indian-American lawmaker said.