Washington, Oct 15 India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Thursday termed the attempted mass shooting at a Hindu temple near Chicago as “deeply disturbing” and said racist violence has no place in a civilised society.
Kwatra’s remarks came after a teenager was arrested for allegedly plotting to carry out a “mass shooting” at a Hindu temple in the US state of Illinois.
“The attempted mass shooting at the Hindu temple in Aurora is deeply disturbing. Racist violence including anti-Hindu and anti-India hate has no place in a civilised society,” Kwatra said in a post on X.
US Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will investigate the incident.
Concerning. @CivilRights will review/investigate,” Dhillon posted on X.
Several Indian diaspora groups have condemned the attempted mass shooting.
“This incident is a stark reminder that anti-India and anti-Hindu hatred is not merely online and political rhetoric — it can translate into real world threats against our community and places of worship,” Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) said.
Coalition of Hindus of North America appealed to authorities to protect temples.
“We urge elected officials and law enforcement agencies to take the growing threats against Hindu places of worship seriously, strengthen protections, and unequivocally condemn Hinduphobia,” the organisation said.
“We also call on temples and community organisations to review their security measures, remain vigilant, and promptly report suspicious activity,” it added.
“There’s also no question that the hate has gone from inchoate to a very coherent anti-Hindu animus that is now radicalising white supremacists online. The risk of online hate spilling into real world violence has never been higher,” said Suhag Shukla, Executive Director, Hindu American Foundation.
“Hindus deserve to feel safe in our places of worship, and this plot makes it clear that anti-Hindu and anti-Indian hate are escalating to a point of putting our community in danger. We are grateful to those who stepped up to stop a horrific incident from occurring,” said Sravya Tadepalli, Executive Director, Hindus for Human Rights.
“Enough is enough. It should be obvious to everyone that hate against our communities does not stay in the back corners of the internet. When people with power and a platform cast Indian and South Asian Americans as outsiders to be feared and removed, they embolden those who want us dead,” Chintan Patel, Executive Director, Indian American Impact, said.
Earlier this month, the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple Vadthaldham in greater Cleveland, Ohio, was vandalised by unidentified persons.
In 2025, a Hindu temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, faced gunfire. Four temples in California and three in New York have been vandalised with hate slogans.
The Hanuman statue in Sugarland, Texas, has been facing regular calls to knock it down, CoHNA said.
(PTI News)
