Toronto: Strongly condemning the defacement of a Hindu temple in Canada, India on Wednesday asked the country’s authorities to investigate the incident and take swift action against the culprits. The Ram temple in the city of Mississauga was vandalized with anti-India slogans, sending shock waves through the Indian community. The Consulate General of India in Toronto tweeted in the early hours of Wednesday, “We strongly condemn the defacement of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We request the Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take swift action against the perpetrators.” Is.”
The incident also drew a strong response from Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who said hate had no place in Canada and that police were investigating. Mayor Brown tweeted on Wednesday, “I am saddened to hear about the hate-motivated vandalism at the Ram Mandir Temple in Mississauga. Unknown suspects spray painted the walls behind the temple. No one in Peel Region deserves this kind of hate.” There is no place.”
We strongly condemn the defacement of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested the Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action against the culprits. — IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) February 14, 2023
“@PeelPolice and @ChiefNish (Chief Nishan Duraiyappa of Peel Regional Police) are taking this possible hate crime very seriously. 12 Division has conducted an investigation and they will find those responsible. Religious freedom is a charter right in Canada and we We will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe in their place of worship,” Brown said.
Since 2023, a series of attacks have begun on Hindu temples across Canada, with nearly half a dozen incidents of vandalism, hate graffiti, break-ins and burglaries.
According to media reports, there was an unsuccessful attempt of theft in the same temple last week. It is being told that the thieves fled after the security alarm was raised. According to media reports, a day after this, the Bharat Mata Temple in Brampton was burgled and the thieves made away with the donation box collection. Images of the temple wall bearing anti-India and anti-Modi slogans were widely shared on social media.
The Mississauga Ram Temple was vandalized last night (2/13), similarly the Gauri-Shankar Temple was also attacked.@Justin Trudeau @theJagmeetSingh
Both of you are running the government.
Are you taking any action? pic.twitter.com/YQ6Fjz1a32— InCan (@InCan29082874) February 15, 2023
Last month, after the Gauri Shankar Temple in Brampton was vandalized with “anti-India” graffiti, leaders from Canada and India asked the Ottawa government to take the matter ‘seriously’. Indo-Canadian MP Chandra Arya had tweeted, “I call on the government at the Canadian level to start taking this seriously.”
“The attack on the Gauri Shankar temple in Britain is the latest in a spate of attacks on Hindu temples by anti-Hindu and anti-India groups in Canada. From hate on social media, to physical attacks on Hindu temples, what next?” Arya, an MP from the ruling Liberal Party, asked.
There was also an unsuccessful attempt to break into the Shri Hanuman Mandir in Brampton on 15 January. Canada’s Office of National Statistics showed a 72 per cent increase in hate crimes in Canada between 2019 and 2021 that target a person’s race, religion or sex. orientation.