On December 6, 1992, the biggest organised attack on a heritage structure, the Babri Masjid, took place in the presence of state forces. The Ram Lalla idols were taken out and housed in a makeshift temple. Now, Ram temple is being inaugurated with a different idol of Lord Ram.
Hysteria is being generated nationwide and around the world in nearly 50 countries due to the upcoming inauguration of the Ram Temple by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of a secular state. Simultaneously, all wings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are mobilising people across the nation to observe the day as Diwali, encouraging visits to local temples and organising programmes in celebration.
The whole trajectory, from the demolition to the planned inauguration, has yielded rich electoral dividends for the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party, wedded to the agenda of the Hindu Rashtra. In a way, this whole event tells us as to how the act of demolition, marked by violence, and the subsequent inauguration of the temple, has been a journey that intensifies polarisation along religious lines.
Other experiments have also been undertaken on similar lines.
In Karnataka, the issue of Baba Budan Giri Dargah arose. This syncretic place, like many Sufi shrines, had been visited by both Hindus and Muslims. In the 1990s, the communal forces raised a campaign that this dargah is a Hindu shrine and Muslims have occupied it.
The site is mentioned as Sri Guru Dattatreya Bababudan Swamy Darga in the government records… The place is also called Baba Budangiri and Dattatreya Peetha. Before 1964, the shrine was revered by both Hindus and Muslims. It symbolised Sufi culture and unity of Hindu and Islam cultures. What was a pilgrimage spot for the two faiths has become a disputed site between Hindus and Muslims.
Now the dispute is in the court, but through this journey, the BJP has succeeded in consolidating its base for the first time in a southern state, and this matter has become a constant source for polarisation.
In Hyderabad, the Bhagyalaxmi temple, situated adjacent to the Charminar wall, has been gradually expanding to sow the seeds of discord.
In Maharashtra, near Mumbai, the Haji Malang Dargah has been brought into dispute and chief minister Eknath Rane is reviving the campaign to claim the dargah as the Hindu place of worship. The agitation was begun by Shinde’s mentor Anand Dighe in 1982.
“The first communal tensions over the structure, which signifies the syncretic culture of Maharashtra, occurred in the 1980s when Shiv Sena leader Dighe started a protest, claiming it was located at the site of an old Hindu shrine belonging to Nath Panth, an order of yogis. He claimed the shrine belonged to Hindus as it was the site of a 700-year-old Machindranath temple,” according to the Indian Express.
The Shiv Sena leaders started visiting the place on the day of the Urs. And that was the beginning of the tension. The matter is also in court.
The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai sponsored a fact-finding team, which also interviewed the trustee of the dargah Trust, Kashinath Gopal Ketkar, as per whom, “They don’t have any sort of proof, either documentary or whatsoever” that it was a temple of the Nath sect.
He said that “the presence of Muslims is declining during Urs because of this controversy, but people come later on all the year round.”
On being asked what he thought of the renaming, he said: “I don’t like it and I am rather pained to feel such things are being fomented. It is beyond doubt that the shrine belongs to Muslim Sufis, but his devotees cut across all the countries.” He further said: “People of 40 villages around the hill will continue to say Haji Malang because they have deep-rooted devotion towards the shrine, but those who have the mischievous intention will say whatever it suits them.” The Hereditary Trustee also said: “Our aim is to provide good services to his devotee without any discomfort”
Another research scholar, Rama Shyam, who did her doctoral research on the syncretic traditions of India, with a focus on this dargah, in an interview to the Indian Express, on January 8, in Mumbai, said that the Ketkar family has the records which show their association with the dargah for over 360 years. Regarding the history of the place of Haji Malang baba and various shrines that line the entire path from foothills to the top, there are stories in oral tradition which pass through the generations. It is said that Baba Malang came here all the way from Medina.
The oldest reference to Malang Gad Hills dates back to 1774 during the Anglo-Maratha war. The Thane Gazetteer of 1882 does mention the Bawa Malang fair held in these hills, a fact also confirmed by the CSSS report cited above.
The deliberate attempts to create a dispute around the heritage structures, either to claim that they were Hindu places appropriated by Muslims and need to be reclaimed, is a time-tested method by sectarian forces.
India is replete with these sacred spaces visited by people of all religions. The interesting story about the pilgrims of Sabarimala temple, who first visit St. Sebastian Church and then go to the mosque of Wavar, showcase a longstanding point of syncretism in India that has endured for centuries. However, due to the menacing form taken by sectarian nationalism, even the Sunehri Bagh Mosque is now being targeted, ostensibly in the name of traffic issues.
The major strength of India’s religious traditions are these spaces where people from different religions intermix. With the ascendance of communal politics, most of the dargahs are either being targeted and Sufis are being demonised. Sadly the very traditions of intermixing are being looked down upon.
Ram Puniyani is president of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.
