Exclusive: Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla says he's received letters threatening his, his family's lives
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- The mayor of Hoboken, who is a practicing Sikh, is speaking out after being the target of threatening letters that he says he received in the mail.
The first called on him to resign, then another threatened his life along with his family's, but he is standing strong, staying hate is not welcome in his city.
Running the city of Hoboken is Mayor Ravi Bhalla's dream accomplishment.
"I'm very proud to lead this city as an American of Sikh background," he said.
For a man who always wears his religious head covering with pride, he now says he's been the target of threatening messages.
"Our family began receiving a series of letters in the mail," he told CBS New York's Naveen Dhaliwal in an exclusive interview.
The first, more than a year ago, asked him to resign, and then a second letter threatened his life. Then came the third.
"The third threat, which was the most jolting, came soon thereafter and said that, '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.'"
One letter reads, "It's time to kill you." The rest of it is too disturbing to share.
"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.
It was enough for law enforcement agencies to provide the mayor with 24-hour security, including for his two children at school.
"My biggest concern was for my kids. I signed up to be mayor, but my kids didn't sign up to this type of behavior," Bhalla said.
Bhalla says during the same time he was receiving these threatening emails, his neighbors, his brother and a few city colleagues began receiving packages with sexually explicit and threatening materials. He says the person responsible for those was caught and charged, but the person behind the threatening letters is still out there.
Bhalla is well aware of the backlash Sikh-Americans endured after 9/11.
"How do you feel that 22 years later, that this is what you're experiencing as a political figure?" Dhaliwal asked.
"As a Sikh-American, I'm a proud American and I want people to be treated equally," Bhalla said.
His mission for inclusion and education is stronger than ever in Hoboken.
"There still is a strain of extremism in America, and it's just unfortunate to see that small strain is somewhere in Hoboken, as well. And I think that's what needs to be called out and that's what people need to know about so that we can eventually put an end to it through education and through love," he said.
Bhalla won the mayoral election in 2017 and won again in 2021 after running unopposed.