Hindus are highly concerned after reports of robbery and violent encounter in Sacramento (California) Hindu temple kitchen with a masked gunman, where an 86-year old woman was among the victims.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Chicago today, said that it was shocking for the hard-working, harmonious and peaceful US Hindu community numbering about three million; who had made lot of contributions to the nation and society; to confront such incident in a house of worship and a place of prayer.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged administration for swift action; and to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chair Roberta MacGlashan to contact the area Hindu community to reassure them.
A cow’s severed complete head with a bullet to it was reportedly left at a Hindu cow sanctuary in Jackson Township in Monroe County of eastern Pennsylvania in March this year.
According to reports in 2015; 40 Hindu religious flags were burned outside a home in Queens (a New York City borough) on Thanksgiving Day; a Hindu temple was vandalized in Kitchener (Ontario) on November 15; sign of planned “Winston Salem Hindu Temple” in Clemmons (North Carolina) was hit with over 60 shotgun blasts in July; a Hindu temple was vandalized in Dallas (Texas) in April; two Hindu temples in Kent and Bothell (both in Seattle metropolitan area of Washington) were vandalized in February; a Hindu grandfather was roughed-up by police in Madison (Alabama) in February, resulting in partial paralysis. In 2014, there was anti-Hindu vandalism in Loudoun County (Virginia).
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.