New Delhi: Abdul Hameed, 51, has had a hard time holding back his tears. Hameed is an 11th generation devotee of the Pir Shah Silar Dargah in Veraval. For as long as he can remember, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather have paid obeisance to the shrine and considered it as the spiritual shelter of fisherfolk and residents of the coast.
On September 28, the Dargah, along with eight religious structures associated with Muslims and 47 mostly Muslim-owned houses in the Veraval area of Gir Somnath district in Gujarat were demolished by authorities in a six-hour drive. As many as 200 locals were affected, says Hameed. While the demolitions took place, police detained around 150 locals, it is claimed.
The orders for the demolition were given by the district magistrate and collector D.D. Jadeja.
The locals claim that the demolitions all took place on the 100-acre land which is claimed by the Shree Somnath Trust and the state government. The SST is a religious charitable trust, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Union home minister Amit Shah, and Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L.K. Advani as its trustees.
‘No warning, no time’
“They razed a shrine of a beloved of Allah, Allah is watchful,” Hameed said. He has also lost his house in the demolition drive.
“They started demolition around six in the morning. The children were asleep, we didn’t even get a warning, or time to pack a set of clothes. Everything that we ever had or earned is now rubble,” he said.
Hameed is audibly devastated. He and his family are now living under a sheet of plastic. “It was raining heavily when they demolished all our homes, mosques and even the graveyards. We weren’t even treated as humans,” he said.
In Prabhas Patan, several historic shrines – the Haji Mangrol Dargah, Shah Silar Dargah, Garib Shah Dargah and Jafar Muzaffar Dargah – have been bulldozed. Locals told The Wire that the Haji Mangrol Shah Dargah was part of the erstwhile Junagadh state’s revenue records as early as 1924.
One of the religious shrines in Prabhas Patan, before demolition. Photo: By arrangement.
Nusrat Panja, vice-president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, who also hails from Veraval, has said that demolitions are being used to scare away Muslims so they can vacate the land. He said that the structures demolished were historic and ancient. “Islamic structures with rich history were razed alongside homes. These shrines have belonged to the region for 800 years now and have had legal documentation during reign of Nawab in the princely state of Junagadh. It is unreasonable as to why the collector and state government are wrecking these legal structures,” he told The Wire.
Demolitions
Malang Rizwan’s house was also toppled in the demolition. A poor fisherman Rizwan is now left begging and lives in a shack made of sticks and plastic sheets, which are held to the ground with bricks. The sheets are poor resistance against the winds.
“What crime had we done? We were just living our own lives, minding our own business. These people just want to clear the land near Somnath Temple, that is why we are homeless today,” Rizwan claimed.
Locals who saw their homes and shrines being demolished told The Wire that they had heard about Muslims losing their houses across the country, but had never thought that a grand arrangement to bulldoze and detain the owners of their homes would take place against them.
The demolition day saw hydraulic cranes, at least 60 excavators, 50 tractor trailers, five dumpers and at least 1,400 policemen, locals said. It was daunting.
Basir Gohel, a social activist from the region recalled how many people were not allowed to pick up their belongings. “It was just inhuman and deeply political. We knew it was not our fault. The same thing happened in Surat few days ago. Our Eidgah and even a portion of our graveyard was demolished,” Gohel said.
Speaking to The Wire, collector Jadeja, however, said, “The occupants couldn’t prove their legitimacy, so the encroachments had to be demolished”.
Jadeja justified the actions saying they had served notices to the shrines, but also added that no permanent homes of people were demolished. He said that these temporary shacks where people lived were all encroachments.
On being asked as to why the demolition was conducted even when the matter was due in court, he said, “I can’t talk about this, since it is sub-judice. We are not doing any biased demolitions. It is not biased action, this is the third such demolition in Gir Somnath.”
Jadeja maintains that the administration sent notices 20 days ago to the residents, although the latter say that they got no warning.
Legal limbo
The hurried demolition has drawn flak from the Minority Coordination Committee of Gujarat, which advocates for the rights of religious minorities. On September 28 itself, the MCC wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel seeking justice for the Muslim community. The letter said that several ancient shrines in Prabhas Patan, including the Haji Mangrolisha Dargah, Shah Silar Dargah, Garib Shah Dargah and Jafar Muzaffar Dargah, had been razed. It also highlighted that the Haji Mangrolisha Shah Dargah existed in the Junagadh state’s revenue records since 1924.
The MCC also added that recently the Supreme Court’s September 17 interim order stayed demolitions across the country without its permission till October 1.
Advocate Saquib Ansari, part of the council that is representing the Auliya-e-Deen Committee (petitioner for razed shrines) at Gujarat high court views the matter as that of misinterpretation of documents. The Auliya-e-Deen Committee had moved the high court, seeking protection against any coercive action that may happen at the expense of the sanctity of the shrine, but, Ansari said, the authorities took the matter in their hands.
On October 1, in a reply to the application at the high court – which expressed ‘dissatisfaction with the grossly illegal and unconstitutional demolition’ – the Office of the Deputy Collector of Gir Somnath labelled the petitioner as ‘guilty’ of ‘suppressing the truth’ and the intentional withholding of relevant information. The reply from the deputy collector also claims that the petitioners were trying to lay claim on government land which stand ‘entrusted to Shree Somnath Trust’.
Last week, hearing a contempt petition alleging that the structures in Gir Somnath were illegal and unconstitutionally razed, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Gujarat government. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan, heard a petition filed by Summast Patni Muslim Jamat, representing the Patni Muslim community of Prabhas Patan.
Since September 30, the district has been under Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita which prohibits the assembly of five or more persons.
