Man vandalises murals depicting Hanuman sitting at Swaminarayan’s feet at temple in Botad district

In the videos of the incident, which went viral on social media, Gadhvi – wielding a decorative axe in one hand and carrying some ink in the other – is seen first blackening some of the murals by rubbing ink on them while shouting “Sanatan dharma ni jai, koi avta nai nakar mari nakhu (Hail Sanatan dharma. None of you dare come near me or I shall kill you).”

He is then seen striking a mural with the decorative axe twice but the axe breaks into two. Gadhvi goes on to hit two more murals with the handle of the axe before three policemen overpower him.

Botad Superintendent of police Kishor Babloiya said, “The statue has been barricaded but people can approach it from one side for darshan. However, there is a parking lot and a garden near the statue. The man managed to make his way to the statue from the garden side, found an opening in the barricading, and managed to reach the pedestal. He blackened and vandalised some murals before policemen caught hold of him.”

He added that Gadhvi is a native of Charanki village in Ranpur taluak of Botad district but is presently living in Dhasa, a village in Gadhada taluka of Botad district. “We will question him… We are also investigating as to with whom he had travelled to the temple and what were his intentions,” Babloiya said.

The incident comes amid calls by Hindu religious leaders in Gujarat to remove the murals depicting Hanuman sitting at the feet of Lord Swaminarayan — the founder of Swaminarayan sect — saying it demeans Hanuman. Some murals also depict Hanuman as bowing down to Swaminarayan, who according to according to the sect, was born in Chhapaiya village in Uttar Pradesh in 1781 and came to Gujarat in 1799 and founded the sect. On the other hand, Lord Hanuman, according to Hindu mythology, was a dutiful servent and devotee of Lord Rama in Tretayug. The Hindu religious leaders, including Morari Babu, have objected to the depiction of Hanuman with Swaminarayan and many have given calls for their removal. However, Vadtal Swaminarayan faction has not reacted to such calls.

A Shalangpur temple spokesperson could not be reached for a comment on Saturday.

The SP said that since the controversy began early this week after some devotees had a close look at the murals and shared their photos on social media, police personnel have been deployed on the temple premises. “Generally, we deploy our men at the temple on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when the rush of devotees remains high. But we deployed personnel four days ago to maintain law and order… The temple has its own security guards but on Saturday, there were 75 policemen on duty there, including one inspector and three sub-inspectors.”