Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had recently said that he was committed to the liberation of the centuries-old Haji Malang Dargah.
Right wing groups claim it is a temple. Malanggarh is a hill fort on the Matheran hill range.
In the Dargah located on its lowest plateau, preparations are being made for the death anniversary of Yemen’s 12th century Sufi saint Haji Abd-ul-Rahman.
He is known locally as Haji Malang Baba. His death anniversary will be celebrated on 20th February. Responding to Shinde’s statement, Chandrahas Ketkar, one of the two trustees of the three-member trust of the dargah, said, “Whoever is claiming that the dargah is a temple is doing so for political gains.”
He said, “In 1954, in a case related to the control of the Dargah, the Supreme Court had said that the Dargah was a structure, which cannot be governed by Hindu or Muslim law.
It can only be governed by the common law of trusts subject to special customs. “The leaders are now raising it only to attract their vote bank and make a political issue.”
Meanwhile, Abhijeet Ketkar, who belongs to the trustee family, said that every year thousands of devotees come to the temple to fulfill their vow.
Many people believe that it is a temple and is representative of the syncretistic culture of Maharashtra. Shinde’s political teacher Anand Dighe was the first to lead a movement in the 1980s.
He claimed that the structure was the site of an old Hindu temple belonging to the Nath sect, a sect of yogis. This issue was put on the back burner by Shiv Sena when it came to power in the 1990s. Shinde has now decided to raise the issue again.
The Dargah is mentioned in various historical records. It is also mentioned in The Gazetteers of Bombay Presidency published in 1882.
Referring to the structure, it is said that this temple was built in honor of an Arab missionary Haji Abd-ul-Rahman, who was popularly known as Haji Malang. During the reign of the local king Nala Raja, the Sufi saint is said to have come from Yemen with many followers and settled on the lower plateau of the hill.
The rest of the history of the Dargah is shrouded in mythology. Local legends claim that Nala Raja married his daughter to a Sufi saint.
The graves of both Haji Malang and Maa Fatima are located inside the Dargah complex. Gazetteers of the Bombay Presidency state that the structure and the tombs have been in existence since the 12th century and are considered sacred.
The first signs of conflict over the Dargah began in the 18th century. Local Muslims had objected to it being managed by a Brahmin. The conflict was not about the religious nature of the temple but about its control. In 1817 it was decided that the saint’s wish should be fulfilled by casting lots.
“Lots were cast and thrice the lottery fell on the representative of Kashinath Pant, who was declared the guardian,” the gazette said. Since then Ketkar is the hereditary trustee of Haji Malang Dargah Trust. He has played a role in the maintenance of the temple. It is said that the Trust had both Hindu and Muslim members, who worked harmoniously.
The first signs of communal conflict over the temple emerged in the mid-1980s when Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe started a movement claiming that the temple belonged to Hindus because it was the site of the 700-year-old Machhindranath temple. In 1996 he insisted on taking 20,000 Shiv Sainiks to the temple to perform puja.
Along with the then Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray also participated in the puja. Since then Shiv Sena and right-wing groups refer to this structure as Sri Malang Gad.
However this structure is still a dargah. Hindus also visit its premises on the full moon day and perform aarti. Eknath Shinde visited the dargah in February 2023. He had performed aarti and offered a saffron chadar inside the dargah. Eleven months later, he increased aggression on this issue.
The politics around the Dargah is about to get heated, but the people living around the Dargah are largely unaffected. Prabhat Sugvekar’s family has been running a small tea and snack shop on the hill leading to the temple for generations.
He said, “Most Muslim devotees know the dargah as Haji Malang Baba, while Hindus know the place as Shri Malang Gad after Anand Dighe visited here. For me both Baba and Shri Malang are the same God. It is because of him that I have a means of livelihood. Be it a temple or a dargah, it doesn’t matter much to me.”