Haji Malang Dargah has for quite some time been guaranteed by Hindutva fanatics conflicting with Muslim admirers in India
Monday, January 29, 2024
A conspicuous Indian political figure pronounced that he wished to "free" Haji Malang Dargah, a Sufi holy place that is visited by Indians, everything being equal, only for Hindus.
To more deeply study the discussion, Cherylann Mollan of the BBC visited the sanctum.
Arriving at the sought after Sufi holy person's burial place, which is currently a site of questioned history, custom, and confidence, requires climbing roughly 1,500 steps cut out of rock. It's anything but a simple endeavor.
Arranged on a slope close to Mumbai in the western territory of Maharashtra, the Haji Malang Dargah (holy place) is accepted to contain the entombment of a Bedouin teacher who showed up in India a long time back.
In spite of being at the center of a philosophical struggle, the dargah, in the same way as other Sufi holy places across India, is viewed as an image of retention and resistance.
At the holy person's burial chamber when the BBC columnist visited, blossoms and a chadar — a piece of texture gave as a noble gesture in Sufi practices — were being presented by Muslims and Hindus the same. It is accepted that solicitations made with a "good nature" will continuously work out as expected.
This soul of well mannered concurrence is reflected in the managerial leading group of the sanctum, whose genetic overseers are from a Hindu Brahmin family, albeit two of its legal administrators are Muslims.
Notwithstanding, at a political assembling recently, Maharashtra Boss Pastor Eknath Shinde started debate by raising a long-failed to remember declaration. He expressed his goal to "freeing" the structure, which is typically viewed as a dargah, and guaranteed that it is a Hindu sanctuary.
In light of the BBC's solicitation for input, Shinde stayed quiet.
His statement corresponds with a period when certain notable mosques and Muslim-fabricated structures in India are entangled in lawful difficulties over claims that they were worked by leveling Hindu sanctuaries many quite a while back.
Anand Dighe, Shinde's political coach, drove a work to "recover" the Haji Malang Dargah for Hindus during the 1980s. He is said to have driven 20,000 Shiv Sena party laborers in a pooja (a Hindu demonstration of love) inside the dargah in 1996.
From that point forward, the hallowed place has been the site of poojas on full moon days by Hindu hardliners, who call the design Malanggad. This has occasionally brought about quarrels with Muslim admirers and residents.
