BAPS welcomes US Justice Dept decision to close worker exploitation probe

The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha in the United States has welcomed the Justice Department decision to close an investigation against it over alleged claims of exploitation of workers.

In 2021, a group of Indian workers had filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of New Jersey alleging violations of human trafficking and wage law against the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS).

The workers alleged that they were confined and forced to work for about $1 on constructing the massive Swaminarayan temple in New Jersey.

The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha in the United States welcomes the decision by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey to close their investigation of BAPS and the creation of BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham, BAPS North America said in a statement.

A report in The New York Times had said that the complaint had named six men who had said they were among more than 200 Indian nationals who were brought to the US on religious visas R-1 visas' starting from around 2018 and were made to work gruelling hours under often dangerous conditions on the New Jersey site.

However, on Thursday, the organisation said that the US government decision to end this investigation "sends a clear and powerful message in support of what our organisation has maintained from the outset.

BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham a place of peace, service, and devotion was built through the love, dedication, and volunteer service of thousands of devotees from all walks of life, it said.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey did not respond to an email and phone request by PTI for a comment on the development.

BAPS North America added that the Hindu community in the US represents a comparatively newer faith tradition in this country.

"Yet the fact that our community came together to create such a landmark is a testament to the values that make America great. BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham stands as an enduring symbol of how the community has become an integral part of the fabric of the United States, it said.

Describing the period in the wake of the lawsuit as "challenging for our fellowship, the organisation said that we emerge with renewed strength and deepened faith in God and in the enduring spirit of this nation.

CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) said in a statement that it welcomes the DOJ decision to close its investigation of the BAPS temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey over alleged caste discrimination and worker exploitation.

It said that the move had triggered a campaign of "calumny targeting not just the one temple in question but the broader Hindu faith, community, and our institutions based on this unproven allegation.

Today we stand vindicated -but the damage is done, CoHNA said.

CoHNA added that we must hold accountable the anti-Hindu ecosystem that took these unproven allegations and an ongoing investigation as proof-- and put the entire community in the dock.