A Sikh council candidate in New Zealand has been targeted with targeted with ‘racist’ graffiti, spraying the word ISIS on his campaign billboard, NZ Herald reported.
Yugraj Singh Mahil, a former president of Hamilton Sikh Society, is running for a seat in the Hamilton City Council. He said he received the news about this graffiti on social media.
He says his family is now scared to venture out of their home.
"My daughter and my wife got really upset ... my wife is a little bit worried about going outside so we try to be safe and don't go out at night, but still I have to go out and want to give this my best shot,” says Mr. Mahil.
He says the graffiti is "disgraceful and disrespectful".
"It means the whole community gets shocked, all of the Sikh community. I have been receiving calls from various Sikh leaders that this is bad and we have to make a noise about it and raise awareness."
"We have never faced this sort of issue before."
As president of the Hamilton Sikh Society, Mr. Mahil says he had organised a float in Hamilton’s Christmas parade in 2006 to create awareness about the identity of the Sikhs.
"The whole purpose was to make people know... we are peace-minded people we respect all other religions."
"Mostly people can't identify the difference between us. They just see the same turban and go 'these must be Islamic people' but we are Sikh, we are a different religion. That commonly is the biggest problem, I think worldwide, all of the Sikhs are facing this."
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