Hoboken, NJ: The Indian-origin Sikh mayor of Hoboken city in the US state of New Jersey has opened up about being the target of a series of letters that threatened to kill him and his family.
The letters, which he received last year, first called on Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who is a practicing Sikh, to resign, but then began threatening his and his family’s life, targeting him for his Sikh faith, news agencies reported Tuesday.
Bhalla, who was first elected for the post of Hoboken mayor in 2017, said: “I’m very proud to lead this city as an American of Sikh background.” He won again in 2021 after running unopposed.
For a man who always wears his turban with pride, Bhalla said he had been the target of threatening messages. “Our family began receiving a series of letters in the mail,” he said.
The first, more than a year ago, asked him to resign, and then a second letter threatened his life. “The third threat, the most jolting, came soon thereafter and said, ‘This is your last warning. If you don’t resign immediately, we will kill you, we’ll kill your wife, we’ll kill your children,” he recounted.
One letter read: “It’s time to kill you.” “There was a lot of angst, anger, a lot of hate, combined with actual threats upon my life and the life of my children and my wife,” Bhalla said.
