Man Not Allowed into US Temple As His Name Didn’t ‘Sound Hindu’

A group of Indians were allegedly denied entry into a temple in US, as their last names were not “Hindu”.

File image of garba during the celebrations to mark the Navratri festival in Gujarat. Image used for representation. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Karan Jani. 

An astrophysicist based in Atlanta, USA, claimed on Twitter that he and his friends were denied entry into a temple in the US during garba celebrations because their names did not “sound Hindu”.

Dr Karan Jani, an astrophysicist and a co-recipient of the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, narrated the incident in a long Twitter thread. He said the organizers of the event had asked them “inappropriate questions” on communal grounds, and told him that he didn’t “look Hindu” and that the last name on his ID didn’t “sound Hindu”.

According to Jani, one if his friends, a Kannada-Marathi, was dragged out of the line and told, “We don’t come to your events, you are not allowed to ours”. When she tried to convince them that she was Hindu, they refused to believe her and called her an “Islamili”.

Another friend of his, whose last name is ‘Dangarwala’, even spoke to the organisers in Gujarati, but the organisers kept calling them ‘Vohras’ and ‘Sindhis’, and started naming all other communities, Jani wrote in his post.

Jani said he also tried to tell them that he had been coming to this particular temple for the past six years, to play garba.

“Our IDs had the Indian Emblem. Yes, the emblem with ‘Satyamev Jayate’, right? Apparently, it didn’t have our religion. Our caste. It was embarrassing. I had tears in my eyes saying them, ‘I come here to play <i>garba </i> for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name.’”

Karan Jani&nbsp;

“I was told by that organiser, a senior person, things in Gujarati which are so crude and demeaning that it can’t be shared on public forum. Just to ensure we don’t dare to enter the temple again,” he said.

(Read the full thread here)

Father of Karan Jani, Pankaj Jani. 

Speaking to ANI about the incident, Karan Jani’s father, Pankaj Jani said, “Volunteers stopped him and told him he doesn't look like a Hindu and even his surname doesn't appear to be that of a Hindu. They check IDs. His ID has the national emblem on it, even then he was asked to leave. Later he talked to me over phone and sounded nervous.”