US Army veteran Ruchir Bakshi strongly reacted to the nonstop hate mongering on social media targeting Hindus and Hindu religious figures and said he did not go to war for a country that comes after his religion. Bakshi was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and his service included combat-zone assignments in southern Afghanistan and around Baghdad. Bakshi reacted to a YouTuber's now-viral post of the 'Statue of Union', the 90-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman at the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land, Texas. "Btw, when we win, we are tearing this down," Jesse Hughes, the YouTuber, wrote without specifying what win he meant, as Texas is a red state.
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"I’m a US Army combat veteran and a Hindu American. I didn’t put on that uniform, leave my family, and go to war so some third-rate talk show guy could announce that when his side “wins,” they’re coming for my religion," Bakshi wrote.
Calling this a threat to Hinduism, Bakshi said those who worship in these temples pay taxes, run businesses, and send their sons and daughters to the same Army where he served. A call for vandalism is not patriotism, he said.
