India condemned the vandalization of Hindu temples in Australia and said that the matter has been raised with the Australian government in Canberra and asked for expeditious investigation against the perpetrators. “We are actually aware of the couple of temples that have been vandalized in Australia. We condemn these incidents. These actions have been publicly condemned by Australian leaders, community leaders, and religious associations there”, said the Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
The act came to notice on 16th January after devotees came for ‘darshan’ amid the three-day long ‘Thai Pongal’ festival which is being celebrated by Australia’s Tamil Hindu community. “We are a Tamil minority group in Australia, a lot of us came as refugees to escape the religious persecution”, said a devotee named Usha Senthilnathan in Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple.