Santa Clara: Hindu and Zoroastrian Parents Sue School District Over Mosque Trip, Resident Builds Hindu-Themed Stadium Model
Santa Clara's South Asian community appeared in local headlines on multiple fronts in 2025 and 2026, from a federal lawsuit in which Hindu and Zoroastrian parents are among the plaintiffs challenging Palo Alto Unified School District over a mosque field trip, to a story about a 25-year Santa Clara resident who crafted an intricate paper model of Levi's Stadium featuring a Hindu deity as a blessing for the San Francisco 49ers ahead of Super Bowl LX. These stories illuminate a South Asian community that engages actively on questions of religious neutrality in public life while simultaneously expressing cultural pride in distinctly Bay Area ways. Together they reflect the depth of Desi civic life in Santa Clara — a city home to one of the largest concentrations of South Indian tech professionals and their families in the United States.
🗳️ Hindu and Zoroastrian Parents Among Plaintiffs in Bay Area Mosque Field Trip Lawsuit Against School District
A federal lawsuit filed against Palo Alto Unified School District in 2026 has brought together a coalition of Jewish, Hindu, and Zoroastrian parents in the San Francisco Bay Area who allege their children were subjected to religious advocacy during a school-organized field trip to a local mosque. The case — docketed as 5:2026cv08249 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California — was brought by a group of ten parents and former students under the name Community Members for Religious Neutrality in Public Schools, San Francisco Bay Area. Among the named plaintiffs are Hindu parent Pawan Deshpande and Zoroastrian parent Dinsha Mistree, alongside Jewish parents Jafi Lipson, Josh Lehrer, and Linor Levav, former student Sasha Ava Lehrer, and four additional anonymous Jewish plaintiffs. The defendants are Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High Principal Brent Kline. According to the suit, students at Palo Alto High School were reportedly encouraged to wear Islamic religious attire during the school-organized mosque visit, which the plaintiffs argue constitutes state-sponsored religious advocacy in a public school. The Jerusalem Post noted that the case is set in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The lawsuit reflects growing civic engagement among South Asian communities in Silicon Valley — particularly the Hindu and Zoroastrian communities — on questions of religious neutrality and equal treatment in public education. The case is being closely watched by interfaith advocates and civil liberties organizations throughout the Bay Area, and marks a notable moment of cross-community legal organizing that includes South Asian religious minorities standing alongside Jewish plaintiffs. [1]
🎬 Santa Clara Resident Mangesh Tamhankar Builds Hindu-Themed Paper Model of Levi's Stadium to Bless 49ers at Super Bowl LX
A Santa Clara resident and devoted San Francisco 49ers fan has created an elaborately detailed paper model of Levi's Stadium, incorporating a Hindu deity as a ceremonial blessing for the team ahead of Super Bowl LX. Mangesh Tamhankar, who has lived in Santa Clara for 25 years, built the model as part of a longstanding family tradition in which a new paper model is constructed each year to commemorate a significant world event. The project was reported by Patch in September 2025. Tamhankar expressed hope that the 49ers organization would agree to display the model at the actual Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. According to the report, the family has maintained this creative tradition for 25 consecutive years, selecting a new globally significant theme annually and bringing it to life in paper. The Super Bowl LX edition stands apart for its integration of Hindu iconography into a distinctly American sporting landmark, weaving South Asian religious and artistic heritage into the fabric of Silicon Valley's most beloved sports venue. The model illustrates how members of Santa Clara's large South Indian and South Asian community have embedded their cultural identities into local civic and sports culture, finding ways to express Desi heritage not in opposition to American life but as an addition to it. Tamhankar's project — devotional in its Hindu references and celebratory in its 49ers fandom — reflects the sense of full belonging that many members of the local Indian community feel in the Bay Area after decades of making Santa Clara their permanent home. [5]
Sources: [1] The Jerusalem Post · [5] Patch