New Delhi: A Hindu temple in Australia has allegedly been vandalised by "Khalistani supporters" with anti-India graffiti, PTI reported on Tuesday citing The Australia Today website, in the second attack on a temple in Victoria state within a week.
According to the media report, the historic Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs, Victoria, was vandalised on Monday.
The devotees noticed this act of vandalism when they came for ‘darshan’ as the three-day long “Thai Pongal” festival is being celebrated by the Tamil Hindu community, according to PTI.
Usha Senthilnathan, a long-time devotee of Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple said, “We are a Tamil minority group in Australia, a lot of us came as refugees to escape the religious persecution.” “This is my place of worship and it’s not acceptable to me that these Khalistan supporters are vandalising it with their hate messages without any fear,” PTI quoted Senthilnathan as saying.
"I urge Premier Dan Andrews and Victoria Police to take strict action against these goons who are trying to scare the Victorian Hindu community,” added Senthilnathan.
Speaking to The Australia Today website, Hindu Council of Australia’s Victoria chapter President Makrand Bhagwat said, “I can’t tell you how upset I am for witnessing a second Hindu Temple vandalised for Khalistan propaganda.” “Our Temples vandalism is deplorable and should not be tolerated by the wider community.”
Melbourne Hindu community member Sachin Mahate said, “If these Khalistan supporters have the courage they should go and draw graffiti on the Victorian Parliament building rather than target peaceful Hindu communities' religious places.”
Reacting to the incident, Victorian Liberal Party MP Brad Battin said, “In no way, our future can be built on hate when it has been built on working together for so long. There is no place in Victoria or Australia for this kind of behaviour that we are seeing here.”
“Victoria is and will remain the best multicultural state in the world as long as people learn to work together not against each other,” added Battin.
Earlier, on January 12, the Swaminarayan temple in Melbourne was defaced by 'anti-social elements' with anti-India graffiti.
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Australia in a statement said, "We are deeply saddened by the anti-India graffiti at the gates of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Mill Park, Melbourne, Australia by anti-social elements. The BAPS temple in Mill Park, like all temples of BAPS worldwide, is an abode of peace, harmony, equality, selfless service, and universal Hindu values."
(With inputs from PTI)