Separatist Sikhs destroyed a Hindu temple in Australia

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Supporters of a separatists Sikhs` movement called “Khalistan” destroyed an Indian temple in Melbourne, Australia.

“Eastern Eye” reported  the walls of the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Melbourne were on Thursday found defaced with graffiti calling for ‘death to India’ and comparing Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to ‘Hitler’.

The vandals also defiled the temple with words praising the slain militant leader Bhindranwale who was responsible for the death of thousands of people in India.

The graffiti read “Hindustan Murdabad” (death to India), “Modi = Hitler” and “Sant Bhindranwale martyr”.

A regular visitor to the temple in the city’s northern suburb told The Australia Today “all walls were coloured with graffiti of Khalistani hatred towards Hindus.”

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a global spiritual organisation that runs the temple, said it was “deeply saddened by the anti-India graffiti” written by “anti-social elements”.

Lily D’Ambrosio, a minister in the Australian state of Victoria condemned the vandalism saying, “there is no place in our community for such attacks”.

She reached out to the temple to express her concern about the attack and hoped the authorities would bring those responsible to account.

The vandalism in Melbourne comes months after a similar desecration of a temple run by the Samstha in the Canadian city of Toronto.

A statue of Indian freedom movement hero Mahatma Gandhi which stood in front of a Hindu temple in New York was found destroyed in August last year.