CHINO HILLS >> The recent desecration of an iconic Hindu temple in Southern California with anti-Hindu and anti-Indian government graffiti has heightened concerns among South Asian groups following a slew of such incidents over the past year.

Devotees who arrived early March 8 at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills were shocked to find the words “Hindustan Murdabad,” which means “death to” or “down with” Hindus and India, scrawled on a pink stone sign bearing the temple’s name, said Mehul Patel, a volunteer with the organization.

Expletive-laden graffiti targeting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was written on an outer brick wall and abutting sidewalk, he said. San Bernardino Sheriff’s officials have said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime and have not identified any suspects yet.

Patel said the incident “invoked a sense of fear” among community members. The impact was felt as far away as India, where most major media outlets reported the incident, and India’s External Affairs ministry condemned the vandalism.

“We condemn such despicable acts in the strongest terms,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “We call upon the local law enforcement authorities to take stringent action against those responsible for these acts, and also ensure adequate security to places of worship.”

Patel said the vandalized temple had nearly 1,000 visitors every day, with thousands of people gathering during Diwali and temple festivals.

“We do have security protocols in place, but such a violation still makes you think twice about how safe you really are, especially if you have young children,” Patel said.

The majestic temple, the largest in California, sits on a 20-acre lot along a freeway, its arches and domes carved out of pink sandstone and interior decked with white Italian marble. In October 2023, the organization built in Robbinsville, New Jersey, the largest Hindu temple outside India in the modern era. The Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism, oversees more than 1,300 temples and 5,000 centers around the world, according to the group’s website.

This is not the first time the global Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, has been hit by vandals. The organization’s temple in Melville, New York, was tagged with similar writing Sept. 16. Nine days later, their temple near Sacramento was hit, and there was also an incident at the Newark temple in December 2023. Those incidents are also being investigated as hate crimes.

The denigration of Modi, under whom Hindu nationalism has surged in India, appears to be a common thread in these vandalism incidents across the country. Other non-BAPS Hindu temples in the U.S. have also been attacked recently. In Hayward, Vijay’s Sherawali Temple, dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Durga and run by a family of immigrants from Fiji, was vandalized in January 2024 with graffiti calling Modi a “terrorist” and with the words “Khalistan Zindabad” (Long live Khalistan).

Khalistan is the name by which Sikh separatists refer to a sovereign state they hope to create in Indian state of Punjab, birthplace of Sikhism. A violent Khalistani insurgency in India was quelled by the government in 1984; India has declared it a terrorist movement. Activists in the diaspora are holding a nonbinding referendum across the United States to create an independent Khalistan; voting will take place March 23 in Los Angeles.

In the summer of 2023, tensions escalated between India and Canada over allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Indian government had a hand in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that an Indian government official plotted to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader spearheading the Khalistan referendum.