NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT

Sugar Land, Texas, September 23, 2025: A comment by Texas Republican Senate candidate Alexander Duncan describing a newly constructed statue of Lord Hanuman as a “false Hindu God” has triggered widespread backlash from Hindu teams and group leaders.

Duncan, who’s working for the U.S. Senate, took to social media to query the presence of the 90-foot-tall statue of Hanuman on the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land. “Why are we permitting a false statue of a false Hindu God to be right here in Texas? We’re a CHRISTIAN nation,” he wrote, citing Bible verses that warn towards idol worship.

The statue, referred to as the Statue of Union, was unveiled in August 2024 and is taken into account the tallest Hanuman statue in the USA. Standing practically 90 ft excessive, it has turn into a landmark for the Hindu group within the Houston space.

Duncan’s feedback have drawn sharp criticism from the Hindu American Basis (HAF), which referred to as them “anti-Hindu and inflammatory.” The group has urged the Texas Republican Get together to take disciplinary motion towards him. “Non secular freedom is a cornerstone of the U.S. Structure,” the HAF mentioned in an announcement, including that Duncan’s remarks undermine the nation’s pluralistic values.

Many social media customers additionally condemned the feedback, stating that America is dwelling to individuals of many religions and that no faith must be singled out as “false.” Others defended Duncan’s proper to specific his beliefs beneath free speech protections, although critics burdened that elected officers and candidates should uphold rules of inclusivity.

Amid the backlash, Duncan launched one other publish clarifying his place. “As Individuals we have to be snug asking questions. What I mentioned in my publish concerning the Hanuman statue in Sugarland was on no account anti-Hindu, I merely requested a query, and as Christians we must be asking these questions as a result of we all know what occurs when a nation turns their again on God and begins to worship artifical idols, Gods, religions and so on.,” he wrote.

Duncan, who was born in California and later moved to Texas, has a background in regulation enforcement and has additionally earned graduate and undergraduate levels from the College of California, Irvine, and Northeastern College. He’s working on a platform of “religion, household, and freedom,” positioning himself as a Christian conservative outsider looking for to deliver new power to Texas politics.

I’m simply calling it what it’s, an IDOL.

“You will need to not have some other god however me. You will need to not make for your self an idol of any type or a picture of something within the heavens or on the earth or within the sea.” Exodus 20:3-4

“They traded the reality about God for a lie. So that they… pic.twitter.com/xGz6oVgGUr

— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) September 22, 2025

Cowl photograph courtesy: Alexander Duncan/X.