A Hindu temple in Ohio’s Greater Cleveland area in US was vandalised with bricks, causing damage to the building and shattering its windows, a US-based Hindu advocacy group said.
The incident took place on Friday afternoon when priests and some devotees were inside the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple Vadtaldham, according to the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA). It, however, did not report whether anyone was injured. The organisation urged Richmond Heights Mayor Kim Thomas and city authorities to condemn the incident and called for swift police action. HAF’s Executive Director, Suhag Shukla, also condemned the incident and demanded action. “This is real now. Online hate has morphed into a real-world attack on a Hindu temple.
The attack came at a time when the Indian-American community in the state was preparing to celebrate Hindu Heritage Month with the Navaratri festival in less than 10 days. The Hindu advocacy group previously documented attacks and vandalism targeting Hindu religious sites in the US, including the vandalism of a Gandhi statue at Shri Tulsi Mandir in Queens, New York, in August 2022 and graffiti at the SMVS Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Newark, California, in December 2023. It also reported attacks on BAPS temples in New York and California in 2024.
“We call upon Mayor Kim Thomas and @RichmondHtsOH to condemn such bigotry and @PoliceRichmond to take swift action against the perpetrator,” it wrote in a post on X. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), in a post on X, said that the possible hate crime comes at a time of unprecedented hate and vitriol directed at the Hindu American community. “We also call on our nation’s elected leaders and government agencies to publicly and unequivocally condemn hateful rhetoric against Indian and Hindu American communities,” it said. Review the video & catch the perpetrator,” he said. Last year, the BAPS temple in California’s Chino Hills was defaced with hateful messages, the advocacy group said. (With inputs from agencies)
