(RNS) — Sometime in the late hours of Sunday night (Aug. 10), the welcome sign to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple near Indianapolis, was vandalized.
“I was shocked that this could happen to our mandir, because we have such a great community relationship,” said Marmik Brahmbhatt, a longtime Indiana resident and volunteer at the temple in the suburb of Greenwood. “I would not have expected this to happen in Greenwood.”
On Monday, the morning after a weekly congregational meeting, Brahmbhatt was made aware of black spray paint on the temple’s sign, just off a highway, US-31. The desecration bore an offensive message: “Hindustan, Modi Murdabad,” in Hindi, or “Death to Hindustan and Modi,” ostensibly referring to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The word Hindustan, a name historically given to India, translates to “land of the Hindus,” referencing Hindu identity and the Hindu people.
The Greenwood Police Department is looking into the event as “criminal mischief,” according to a police report. Tuesday afternoon, the temple held a group prayer service, inviting local officials and religious leaders.
Over the past year, similar spray-painted anti-Modi messages have been found at BAPS temples across the country, from California to New York. Sunday’s vandalism marked a fourth instance against the BAP …