‘There’s a fear': Amid rising attacks on Hindu temples, US Congressman's call for action

Indian American US Congressman Shri Thanedar (AP)

Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar called for immediate action by law enforcement agencies against the rising number of attacks against Hindu Temples in the United States while interacting with members of the Hindu community on Monday.

Talking about the fear among the Hindu community, the Congressman said “local law enforcement hasn’t taken enough action” to investigate the recent attacks.

This comes shortly after Shri Thanedar introduced a resolution against Hinduphobia in the House of Representatives, condemning anti-Hindu bigotry, hate, and intolerance against the community. The resolution has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

“We’ve seen a lot of attacks happening on Hindu temples across the United States and we’ve seen a lot more in more recent times. And it’s time for us to seek support. There’s a fear. Many Hindu communities are under fear. And what we’ve seen is that local law enforcement hasn’t taken enough action. We have not seen any suspects, any arrests, or any resolution to these issues,” he said while citing it as a reason for introducing the resolution in US Congress.

Congressman Thanedar further said, “That (attack incident) has created a lot of fear among the Indian American community, among the Hindu community, and a lot of misinformation has been spread. And so the purpose of this resolution is to bring that to the attention of Congress and to the Biden administration.”

Another Indian-American, Vijay Sadhawal, expressed his concern regarding the “bias of American media” towards the Hindu community residing in the US, saying that the resolution is just a starting point in raising a voice for the American Hindus.

“We have enough Hindu Americans in the country that can actually be a steering rod, so to speak, for protecting our minority rights in this country. And yet we see that the instruments of democracy, like the media, civil society, and NGOs, seem to be biased against the Hindu population of the United States,” he said.

He also drew parallels to the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits after the 1990s and said that he “sees a tremendous similarity that serves the institutions.”

(With inputs from ANI)

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