On August 21, a Hindu-American identified as Krishnan Jayaraman Iyer was at Fremont Taco Bell waiting to pick up his order when another customer started abusing him without any provocation. The tall bearded man kept on abusing Jayaraman for over 8 minutes. Jayaraman, who had already received the order, calmly recorded the verbal attack without responding. According to ABC7 News, he decided to stay and record as he was worried the attacker might follow him to his car.
The man could be heard saying, “Walking around with your f*****g toes out. B***h, this ain’t India.” He continued, “You f****d India up. You’re f*****g America up.” Calling the attack vile, Jayaraman remembered how the abuser had pointed fingers at him and said, “You’re a Hindu who bathes in cow urine.” Cow urine or Gau Mutra jibes are used against Hindus, and such attacks are similar to the language used by terrorists that have been active in the Kashmir valley.
He further added, “Indian people are a joke. Look at this nasty s**t.” The abuse continued even while the attacker ordered his meal at the counter. He intentionally ordered beef to instigate Jayaraman as cows are revered by Hindus. Jayaraman said, “I didn’t see a point of me trying to engage somebody who’s hell-bent on picking up a fight and wanting me to engage. He was so close to my face. He was throwing his dollars in my face. He was spitting everywhere.”
Jayaraman told NBC Bay Area, “I was scared, to be honest with you. I was infuriated on one hand, but I was scared that what if this guy becomes too belligerent and then comes after me?” Despite the continuous attack, the Taco Bell employees did not intervene or try to stop the abuser. Though it might be their policy not to engage and to inform the Police, which they did, the video clearly shows that the verbal attack could have turned physical at any point.
Jayaraman said, “So many of these employees were so busy, but they’re in the front. They’re seeing him abusing me. So I thought, at least they will ask him to leave the establishment, which is probably what most franchises would do. I mean, I don’t know what the policies of Taco Bell are.”
Jayaraman pointed out that the man was pronouncing Hindi and Punjabi words perfectly and used abuses for former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as well. He said, “F**k Indira Gandhi, n****.” That was the time when he realized that the attacker could be an Indian.
OpIndia went through the video and noticed a few signs that pointed out him being a Sikh. On his arm, the attacker had a tattoo that read “Mann Neeva Mat Uchchi” in Punjabi, that ironically translates to “Discard your ego and live a life with high morals and humbleness”. He had more tattoos on his shoulder that looked like a war scene with several machine guns depicted
Jayaraman told ABC7, “Toward the end of the video, he said the late Prime Minister’s name and threw an f-bomb at it. And then I realized, oh my god, he may be Indian.” He went ahead and said he could be linked to the Khalistani movement. Jayaraman said, “That group, the Khalistan group, was deemed a terrorist organization in India.”
Further, blaming Hindus for the British invasion of India, the man told to Jayaraman, “You were the ones when the East India Company came, you were the ones to kneel first. Your people were the ones to put your head down, b****!” He believed there could be an ulterior motive for the attack.
Towards the end of the video, the man could be seen walking out of the establishment as Fremont police officers arrived and called him out. In the last couple of seconds, a Fremont police officer could be seen approaching Jayaraman.
In a statement, the Police said, “Fremont Police Department is aware of the disturbing video circulating on social media related to an incident at a fast food restaurant on August 21, 2022. We are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. Because this is an active investigation, we will release information about the incident as soon as possible without compromising the investigation.”
The statement contained remarks from Police Chief Sean Washington, who said, “We take hate incidents and hate crimes seriously and understand the significant impact they have on our community. These incidents are despicable. We are here to protect all community members, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, religion, and other differences. We would like to urge the community to be respectful of each other and to immediately report any circumstances such as this that, upon investigation, may rise to the level of a crime. In the event of a hate crime, we will devote all available resources to follow up and investigate. Fremont is one of the nation’s most diverse communities, and we are thankful for the contributions of community members from different cultures and backgrounds.”
The Coalition of Hindus of North America’s (CoHNA) Pushpita Prasad said, “I think that video is so horrific. It’s sort of what we have been dreading for a while. We’ve been seeing an increasing number of attacks on Hindu Americans. Hindu hatred has been around for a while. And it’s, unfortunately, surfacing right now. Partly because there are a lot of actors that are sort of creating a lot of hate.”
So far, no update on the case has been reported by the Police.
