Australians from all walks of life have risen in anger and indignation at the desecration and vandalism of a Hindu temple in Sydney last week. Hindu community has been overwhelmed by the support shown to it by the Governments, Political leaders, Religious leaders, Mayor, Councillors and ordinary Australians. Many ordinary Australians have shown their disgust for the attack and have come forward and donated money for temple restoration. The Police have installed two high-tech cameras, solar powered and installed on top of electrical poles to keep an eye on both the streets around the corner block the temple land is on. The local council has provided a number of free rubbish bins and clean up kits fee of charge.
The temple management expresses its gratitude to Australians for their support and is ready to move on. The first step is to do visarjana (final resting of the broken and desecrated idols) in deep ocean so that they remain there and do not get trampled upon ever. Once this has been done, the committee will start getting quotations for various work and material needed for restoration. They need :
- Cabinet makers for Stand of the Idols and statues.
- Carpet suppliers and layers.
- Donors for Musical Instruments in any – i.e. Harmoniums, Dholaks, Tabla etc.
- Donors for Religious books i.e.: Ram Charitra Manas, Bhagwat Puran, Devi Bhagwat etc.
They have set up a GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/bhartiyemandirsydney
Those who would like to help can go the web site above and make their donations.
The Temple Management has issued following statement about the incident :
“We the executive members of the Bhartiye Mandir Sydney, are obliged with the assistance of Hindu Council of Australia with several members of the community who have visited the temple and offered their support in various ways.
We made several representation to Australian media but all went on deaf ears up until the article of our brother Shree Surinder Jain being published. This came as a storm in the media world and we have been stormed by several media group to cover the story.
This has been exposed in Indian television AAj Tak and Fiji One in Fiji also on SBS which showed here in Sydney on Thursday 18th October.
We have received visits from several members of the Parliaments representatives,From Cumberland Council the Mayor, Councillor Suman Saha ji who have been visiting us on several days with his command on Friday the installation of two security cameras on the street facing our temple building from both sides. The supply of bins for cleanup of the temple building.
The team from Multicultural NSW consist of The Chairperson Dr. Hari Harinath, Ms. Megan Lancaster(Director), Mr. Malcolm Haddon (Senior Manager Community Resilience) Ms. Thida Young (Community Engagement Officer) together with Mr. Sreeni Pillamarri (President of UIA) all visited and inspected the ruins inside of the Bhartiye Mandir Temple and jointly condemned the act of vandalism caused therein.
We request Hindu Council to assist us in this appeal as we need all support and guidance we can to rebuilt this holy temple.
We have cleaned the place as the council has provided the bins and assured that will take all the rubbish away by Monday. Although the carpet is still to be stripped out as small particles of glasses are still stuck in the carpet and are dangerous for bear feet.“
Australian Leaders Condemn this shameful act :
- David Coleman, Minister for Immigration
- Deplorable…goes against very essence of Australia.
- Ray Williams, Minister for Multiculturalism, NSW, Australia
- Luke Foley, Leader of Opposition, NSW state, visited the temple
- Anyone who incites, threatens, or practices violence against people on the basis of race or religion should face the full extent of the law.
- Michelle Rowland MP, House of Representatives, shadow Minister of Communication
- Jason Clare, MP, Federal Parliament. shadow Minister of Resources and Northern Australia
- Julian Leeser MP
- This is an appalling act of vandalism … both criminal and unAustralian.
- Jodi McKay, MP Strathfield
- Daniel Mookhey Member of Legislative Council
- Prakash Mehta, President, Hindu Council of Australia
- Dr Deidre Palmer, President Uniting Church in Australia
- Jeremy Jones AM, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council
- Attacks on religious institutions are intolerable and shameful.
- Convenor of RfP NSW and life member ECAJ
- condemn the shameful attack on a Hindu temple
- Abd Malik
- We call upon the Government to identify the culprits and ensure that such incidents do not repeat ever.
- Cecilia Mitra, Federation of Australian Buddhist councils
- condemn the shameful attack on the Hindu Temple in Regents Park
- Stan Widdison, Daily Mail Australia
- terrible incident that took place at Bharatiye Mandir Temple. very sorry to hear about what’s taken place.
- Kevin Rigby – An Australian
- Sorry to hear your temple was vandalized. I want to contribute to assist with repairs.
- Andrew WA – An Australian
- While not a supporter of religion in general, … very disappointed to see what was done to you by some terrible people. ..People should be free to believe in what they believe without this sort of thing happening to them. I have sent you a small donation.
- Peter Sly – An Australian, Hobart
- so sorry to hear about the vandalism of the temple in Sydney. This is something that simply should not happen. I just wanted to add my voice to those supporting you because it upset me to find out that this happened.
- Pablo NSW, An Australian
- deeply disturbing vandalism that was committed at the Barathiye Mandir Temple in Regent’s Park, and we (my partner and I) would like to know how we can donate money.
- Lucy Hall NSW, An Australian
- I was very upset to hear about the vandalism of the Barathiye Mandir Temple in Sydney’s Regents Park. Do you know how I can send them a donation?
- Anne-Maree, NSW, An Australian
- I was very saddened to hear of the destruction of the temple recently. I would like to send $50 towards the rebuilding. Where and how do I do this please?
- Prabir Maitra, Australian Bengali Hindu Association
- there should be better protection to places of worship
- Pooja – An Australia Hindu
- felt extremely bad. On our pre-Karvachauth event we will keep a donation box to help rebuild.
- Victoria Bismire
I stand with the Hindu community
I was horrified to see the awful damage to your holy place.
I am so sorry that this has happened.
Even though I am an agnostic, I firmly believe in the freedom to practise one’s faith. This vandalism was completely unacceptable. Shame on the perpetrators.
As an atheist who strongly believes in a multicultural and pluralist community free of religious bigotry and violence, I am proud to stand with our Hindu community.
I stand in solidarity with the Hindu Community.
I saw the sbs news article and was sad to see such a thing happen. Whilst I’m not religious I wish your temple well
COVERAGE BY AUSTRALIAN MEDIA
It’s terrible that someone did this to you – Australia is better than this. Hope this helps with the restorations.