Washington, Oct 16 US Congressional Caucus on India on Friday demanded that the FBI and the Department of Justice thoroughly investigate the alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu temple in Illinois as a federal hate crime.
In a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, the House India Caucus demanded that the probe should determine whether anyone encouraged, assisted, or coordinated with the 19-year-old attacker, online or offline.
“This plot did not emerge in isolation but reflects broader, troubling trends,” Congressmen Rich McCormick and Ro Khanna, co-chairs of the House India Caucus, said in the letter.
The lawmakers asked the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate the failed plot as a potential federal hate crime and bring all charges supported by the evidence.
They also asked the FBI and the Justice Department to “share timely threat information with state and local law enforcement and with Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras, and other South Asian houses of worship, and offer them protective resources.
The Congressmen also asked Blanche and Patel to brief the Caucus on threats facing Hindu Americans and Indian Americans and the steps the Department and FBI are taking to address them.
The letter said that the FBI data showed an increase in reported hate crimes targeting Sikh, Hindu, and Buddhist communities in 2025.
The Centre for the Study of Organised Hate found that anti-South Asian hate posts on X rose roughly 240 per cent between January 2024 and June 2026.
In the Carnegie Endowment’s 2026 survey, one in four Indian American adults reported being called a slur since the start of 2025.
The attempted attack in Aurora underscores the very real danger posed by this rising hostility.
“Every American deserves to worship without fear. We urge you to treat this case, and the hate behind it, with the seriousness it demands,” McCormick and Khanna said.
(PTI News)
