India has taken a serious note of recent incidents of vandalism of temples in Australia by alleged Khalistani supporters and urged the law enforcement agencies there to thoroughly probe and take measures to prevent such incidents in future.
Giving this assurance here on Thursday, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said New Delhi condemned such acts. “Our Consulate General in Melbourne has taken up the matter with local Police.
We’ve requested expeditious investigation against the perpetrators and measures to prevent such incidents in future. The matter has also been taken up with the Australian Government and we are looking forward to it,” he added.
He also said the Indian government is aware that a couple of temples have recently been vandalised in Australia. “We strongly condemn these actions. These actions have also been publicly condemned by Australian leaders, community leaders and religious associations there,” Bagchi said.
This reaction came in the backdrop of alleged “Khalistani supporters” vandalised a Hindu temple in Australia with anti-India graffiti, a media report said on Tuesday there, in the second attack on a temple in Victoria state within a week, according.
The vandalism of the historic Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs, Victoria, took place on Monday, The Australia Today website reported.
This act of vandalism was noticed when the devotees came for ‘darshan’ as the three-day long “Thai Pongal” festival is being celebrated by the Tamil Hindu community.
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,” she said.
“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.
Hindu Council of Australia’s Victoria chapter President Makrand Bhagwat told the website, “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.”
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.”
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 appealing for peace has said that they are deeply saddened by this incident.