Kamal Ghorui
Texas GOP leader Alexander Duncan once again triggered anti-Hindu hatred as he cast aspersions on a Hindu temple in Texas and said “this does not belong in Texas”. Commenting on a video of the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land where the maker of the video exclaimed about the beautiful temple and how it made them feel they were in India, Duncan said such temples have no place in Texas.“This does not belong in Texas! We do not need or want temples in our state that are used to worship false, demonic gods and idols. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3,” Duncan wrote. This is not the first time that Duncan stirred anti-Hindu emotions with his provocative statements. Earlier, he came under fire for calling Hanuman ‘false god’ and condemning the 90-foot Hanuman statue in Texas.
Duncan’s post went viral with social media users calling ‘idol worship’ evil and blaming Texas Governor George Abbott for this. Many opined that Ohio will now become like this if Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a Hindu, becomes the Governor. An Indian-origin entrepreneur called Duncan’s bigotry out and said if Republicans continue with such bigotry, more money and votes will go to Dems. Thankfully Gov Abbott is not a bigot & bible is not the United States Constitution. Hindu American population in Texas will touch a million in a few years. We vote in high numbers & have high median incomes. Such bigotry will only mean more money and votes will go to Dems. Go on,” Ram Prasad posted. Texas is one of the states with a huge Indian population. According to Pew Research, 960,000 out of the US’s Indian population of 4.9 million, or 20%, live in California. Other states with large Indian populations are Texas (570,000), New Jersey (440,000), New York (390,000) and Illinois (270,000). Metropolitan areas with the largest Indian populations include the New York (710,000), Dallas (270,000) and San Francisco (260,000) metro areas.
