Attacks on Hindu temples have ‘no place in Australia’: PM Albanese

New Delhi [India], March 11 (ANI): Australia won’t tolerate any extreme actions and attacks that took place in religious buildings, and there is no place for such action against Hindu temples, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi, an official statement said today. Responding to a media query about the assurances that the Australian PM gave to his Indian counterpart, Albanese said, “I gave him the assurance that Australia is a country that respects people’s faith.

That we don’t tolerate the sort of extreme actions and attacks that we’ve seen on religious buildings, be they Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, or churches. This has no place in Australia.” “And we will take every action through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law. We’re a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity,” the statement quoted him saying.

Earlier, India-Australia: Exchange of Agreements and Press Statements on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Australian PM, in light of the recent attacks on temples in Australia, has assured that the safety and well-being of the Indian community in Australia is a priority for him. “Since the last few weeks, news of attacks on temples in Australia are coming regularly. It is natural that such news worries people in India. I have raised these concerns with Prime Minister Albanese who has assured me that the safety of the Indian community is a special priority for him,” PM Modi said.

Recently, in the first week of March, Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Australia’s Brisbane was vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters. Temple President Satinder Shukla while speaking to The Australia Today said, “Temple Priest and devotees called this morning and notified me about the vandalism on the boundary wall of our temple.”

Sarah Gates, who is the Director of Hindu Human Rights said, “This latest hate crime is a pattern of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) globally, clearly attempting to terrorise Australian Hindus. Coupled with a barrage of propaganda, illegal signs, and cyberbullying, the organisation intends to present all-pervasive threats, fear, and intimidation,” to The Australia Today. In January, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Australia’s Carrum Downs was vandalised with anti-Hindu graffiti.

The act came to notice on January 16 after temple devotees came for ‘darshan’ amid the three-day long “Thai Pongal” festival which was celebrated by Australia’s Tamil Hindu community, The Australia Today reported. On the evening of January 15, 2023, Khalistan supporters tried to draw support for their referendum through a car rally in Melbourne. However, they failed miserably as less than two hundred people gathered out of an almost 60,000-strong Melbourne community, according to The Australia Today.

A week before the above incident, On January 12, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Australia’s Mill Park was smeared with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti.
The temple was vandalised by anti-India elements with anti-India slogans written on the temple’s walls, located in the suburb of Mill Park, The Australia Today reported. Patel, an onlooker shared how he witnessed the vandalised walls of the temple when he visited the site.