Hindus for Human Rights Denounces Rising Anti-Hindu, Anti-Muslim, Anti-Indian, and Anti-Immigrant Hate in Texas |
Viral video of an Indian flag being torn near Frisco City Hall is the latest flashpoint in a wave of hate against South Asian, Muslim, Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and immigrant communities |
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The incident is disturbing on its own. It is also the latest visible example of a larger pattern in Texas, where anti-Hindu, anti-Muslim, anti-Indian, and anti-immigrant rhetoric has moved from online agitation into city council meetings, religious-site controversies, and statewide political campaigns. What may appear as separate incidents in Frisco, Sugar Land, and state politics are increasingly part of the same message: that temples, mosques, Indian families, Muslim families, and immigrant communities are not part of Texas, but threats to it.
In Frisco, that message has become especially visible. On May 19, a far-right activist and pardoned January 6 rioter used public comment over proposed religious institutions to target Hindus, Muslims, Jains, immigrants, and South Asian communities. His remarks followed months of rhetoric around an alleged “Indian takeover,” H-1B visas, and demographic change in North Texas. |
This rhetoric does not exist in isolation. In Sugar Land, Texas, the 90-foot Panchaloha Abhaya Hanuman statue at Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple has become a recurring target of public protest, online denunciation, and anti-immigrant rhetoric. After members of a Houston-area church group protested the statue and preached to visitors, temple leaders said they were hiring guards and installing additional security cameras to protect the site. Months later, Texas Republican Senate candidate Alexander Duncan questioned why a “false statue of a false Hindu God” was allowed in Texas and declared that America is a “CHRISTIAN nation.” A Texas-based MAGA activist later posted a video of the statue and portrayed it as evidence of an “invasion” by Indian immigrants.
Across Texas politics, anti-Muslim fearmongering has also become increasingly explicit. Political candidates and officials have invoked “Sharia law,” “Muslim mass immigration,” “Biblical foundations,” and “Christian values” to turn religious minorities and immigrant communities into political targets.
“Hindus and Muslims are not ‘taking over’ Texas. We are building homes, raising families, serving our communities, praying in our own traditions, and contributing to the shared civic life of this country,” said Ria Chakrabarty, Senior Policy Director of Hindus for Human Rights. “What we are seeing in Texas is a political strategy to vilify religious minorities and immigrants. As a Hindu Texan, I know how Hindu and Muslim Texans have made Texas stronger. Texas has always been a beautiful mosaic that represents the best of American diversity, and supremacists who attack our communities are imagining a state that never existed.”
Texas is home to Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, secular, and interfaith communities. Its future should not be defined by those who fear that diversity, but by those willing to defend it. At a time when authoritarian and supremacist politics are rising across the world, Texas leaders face a choice: they can indulge hate, or they can protect every community’s constitutional right to worship, gather, speak, and live in peace. |
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For all press and media inquiries, please contact:
Faria Rehman, Campaigns & Press Relations Manager [email protected] |
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Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) is an education and advocacy organization rooted in the values of satya (truth), nyaya (justice), and shanti (peace). We work to advance human rights for all by opposing caste, Hindutva, religious nationalism, racism, and every form of bigotry justified in the name of faith.
With affiliates around the world and chapters across the United States, HfHR brings together secular and religious Hindus—as well as allies of every background—to build a pluralistic future grounded in dignity and equality. We pursue this mission through policy advocacy, public education, interfaith partnerships, and cultural work that lifts up liberatory traditions within Hindu thought. |
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Hindus For Human Rights
300 Paseo De Peralta
Suite 107
Santa Fe, NM 87501
United States |
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