NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Sugar Land, Texas, September 23, 2025: A remark by Texas Republican Senate candidate Alexander Duncan describing a newly built statue of Lord Hanuman as a “false Hindu God” has triggered widespread backlash from Hindu groups and community leaders.
Duncan, who is running for the U.S. Senate, took to social media to question the presence of the 90-foot-tall statue of Hanuman at the Shri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land. “Why are we allowing a false statue of a false Hindu God to be here in Texas? We are a CHRISTIAN nation,” he wrote, citing Bible verses that warn against idol worship.
The statue, known as the Statue of Union, was unveiled in August 2024 and is considered the tallest Hanuman statue in the United States. Standing nearly 90 feet high, it has become a landmark for the Hindu community in the Houston area.
Duncan’s comments have drawn sharp criticism from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), which called them “anti-Hindu and inflammatory.” The group has urged the Texas Republican Party to take disciplinary action against him. “Religious freedom is a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution,” the HAF said in a statement, adding that Duncan’s remarks undermine the nation’s pluralistic values.
Many social media users also condemned the comments, pointing out that America is home to people of many faiths and that no religion should be singled out as “false.” Others defended Duncan’s right to express his beliefs under free speech protections, though critics stressed that elected officials and candidates must uphold principles of inclusivity.
Amid the backlash, Duncan released another post clarifying his position. “As Americans we need to be comfortable asking questions. What I said in my post about the Hanuman statue in Sugarland was in no way anti-Hindu, I merely asked a question, and as Christians we should be asking these questions because we know what happens when a nation turns their back on God and begins to worship manmade idols, Gods, religions etc.,” he wrote.
Duncan, who was born in California and later moved to Texas, has a background in law enforcement and has also earned graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Irvine, and Northeastern University. He is running on a platform of “faith, family, and freedom,” positioning himself as a Christian conservative outsider seeking to bring new energy to Texas politics.
I’m just calling it what it is, an IDOL.
— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) September 22, 2025
“You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” Exodus 20:3-4
“They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they… pic.twitter.com/xGz6oVgGUr
Cover photo courtesy: Alexander Duncan/X.
