A statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (MK Gandhi) placed outside Shri Tulsi Mandir in South Richmond Hill, located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, was vandalised on the night of August 16 Tuesday, a second such incident of hate crime in less than two weeks. Incidentally, the same statue was vandalised by unidentified miscreants on August 3, 2022.
The founding pandit of the temple, Lakhram Maharaj, told reporters that a group of five to ten unidentified miscreants, armed with sledgehammers, vandalized the Tulsi Mandir. After vandalising the Gandhi statue, the miscreants spray-painted the word ‘Dog’ both in front of the temple and down the block before fleeing in two cars, a white Mercedes Benz and a darker car, possibly a Toyota Camry that is possibly used as a livery cab, police said.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the vandalism at the Tulsi Mandir last night,” the Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol tweeted. “This is not the first time something like this has happened, and it must stop. We must work together to send a clear message that hate crimes towards any religion will not be tolerated.”
We are deeply saddened to learn of the vandalism at the Tulsi Mandir last night. This is not the first time something like this has happened, and it must stop. We must work together to send a clear message that hate crimes towards any religion will not be tolerated. pic.twitter.com/DLXz7BrWcO
— Cityline Ozone Park Civilian Patrol (@COPCP2020) August 16, 2022
Pandit Maharaj, founder of the Shri Tulsi Mandir in South Richmond Hill, said that the community members are sad and heartbroken after Gandhi’s statue was again vandalized late on Tuesday night. “To see them coming after us like this is very painful,” he told CBS News.
Second vandalistic attack on Gandhi statute in two weeks
Notably, the same statue was vandalised less than two weeks earlier, on August 3, 2022. Then too, some unidentified men had knocked over the statue outside the Shri Tulsi Mandir in Richmond Hill, leaving it to face down on the ground with the hand in pieces and an arm cracked.
Following this incident of hate crime, on August 8 (local time), New York State Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar announced that she would hold a press conference on August 9 with community leaders and elected officials to denounce an alleged hate crime at Shri Tulsi Mandir located in South Richmond Hill. Condemning the incident, she had said that the desecration of Gandhi statues and anti-Hindu hate crimes would not be tolerated in Richmond Hill or anywhere across New York State.
Incidentally, the Shri Tulsi Mandir in New York has previously also been targetted. In 2020, a woman was captured on surveillance video setting fire to a flag outside this same temple in Queens.
The August 3 incident of vandalism, however, came after a previous vandalism incident in New York in July when a giant statue of Gandhi was defaced. According to the York Police, the statue was 5 meters high and placed at the Vishnu Temple on Yonge Street and Garden Avenue. The statue was reportedly defaced with words like “Khalistan” and “rapist”.
