Indian scientist thrown out of garba event at US temple as they though he’s not a Hindu

Newsroom, Oct 15: In a shocking revelation, a renowned astrophysicist from Gujarat’s Vadodara who is now settled in US has alleged that he, along with his three friends, was thrown out from a garba venue in Atlanta on Friday by the organisers because their surnames “didn’t appear to be Hindu”.

Karan Jani (29), who in 2016 had made it to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team in US that discovered the gravitational waves, took to Twitter and Facebook to allege that he was thrown out of the venue by the organisers at Sri Shakti Mandir.

Jani, who said he had been doing garba at this venue for the last six years and had never faced any such problem, said he spoke to the organisers in Gujarati, but they refused to budge.

He narrated his account along with a video on social media and wrote: “Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because: ‘You don’t look Hindu and last name in your IDs don’t sound Hindu’.”

Jani told media that when one of his friends gave the volunteers at the temple his ID proof, they said he won’t be allowed because his surname ended with ‘wala’ and it didn’t seem to be a Hindu surname.

Jani tweeted that one of the volunteers told one of his friends, “We don’t come to your events, you are not allowed to ours.” She is a Konkani who had come to the garba for the first time. He tweeted that when she told the volunteer that her last name was Murdeshwar and that she was a Kannada-Marathi, the volunteer said: “What is Kannada? You are Ismaili.”

Jani said he had never faced such discrimination “even from the Americans during my 12 years of stay here”. “They behaved with my two female friends,” he said. An email sent to Shri Shakti Mandir remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

Year 2018 & Shakti Mandir in Atlanta, USA denied me and my friends entry from playing garba because:

“You don’t look Hindu and last name in your IDs don’t sound Hindu”

-THREAD- pic.twitter.com/lLVq4KhJtw

— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018

My Konkani friend who came to Garba for 1st time *due to enthusiasm of us Gujaratis* was pulled out of line & was told:

“We don’t come to your events, you are not allowed to ours”

She: “My last name is Murdeshwar. I’m Kannada-Marathi!”

Him: “What is Kannada? You are Ismaili”

— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018

My other friends last name had “Dangarwala”. We spoke in Gujarati to them.

They still said we were “Vohra, Sindhis”. They actually kept stating other religions!!

They ganged up and told us to leave.

While we saw other non-Indians being entered (which they of course should!)

— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018

Our IDs had Indian Emblem. Yes 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 Garba for last 6 years. How could you not let us in because of last name”

— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018

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

Such fuss just for Garba in Navratri - With friends - to celebrate Indian culture

— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) October 13, 2018