(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…