MUMBAI, February 9: In a seeming antithesis to the Shiv Sena's newly acquired Muslim-savvy image, the party has decided to rake up the Haji Malang dispute on the eve of the forthcoming general elections. Sena leader Anand Dighe has threatened to `storm' the dargah, located off Kalyan, on February 11 (Maaghi Poornima) with his followers.After years of pressing for renaming the dargah as Shree Malang, the Thane-based leader has now issued press advertisements, signed by Sena chief Bal Thackeray, exhorting followers to ``join the leader in proving the truth and reclaiming what is rightfully ours.''The site of contention, located in a fort atop the Haji Malang mountain, is said to be about 750-900 years old. Sainiks, led by Dighe, have long been claiming that the dargah was built on what was originally a Navnath Shaktipeeth temple, dedicated in the early seventies to the saint Machindranath. Every year, in a time-tested ritual, they would perform aartis and renew their pledge to rename the dargah.Dighe would march to the dargah, accompanied by followers and historians, authorities would clamp prohibitory orders and the procession would be sent back.This time around, like always, Dighe has received the open backing of Thackeray. Observers, who point out that the Haji Malang dispute has been a bone of contention with the Sena for years now, say Thackeray's nod may have been necessitated by Dighe's ``waning personal influence.''The dargah has also witnessed a dispute over the keepers of the temple, traditionally the Ketkars. The dispute went to the Supreme Court which ruled that nether Hindu nor Muslim rites should be performed at the dargah. ``It should remain governed by its own special tradition and customs,'' said a 1954 SC ruling.The percentage-wise distribution of 5,000-odd devotees (who swell to over a lakh on special occasions) is 75, 15 and 10 for Hindus, Muslims and others respectively, pointed out the chairperson of the dargah trust, G R Patil. ``Moreover,'', he pointed out, ``thisis the only dargah where women are allowed in.''In 1987, the Mumbai High Court put the brakes on police measures disallowing the Sainiks access to the shrine. ``Our movement is not trying to spread hatred against any one community or hurt its religious feelings. We are merely re-establishing what is rightfully ours,'' Dighe claimed, even while acknowledging the co-operation received from the VHP, Hindu Sena and other like-minded organisations. Patil adds that the trust ``tries to downplay the happenings to stay clear of any controversy.'' The police have clamped Section 144 around the shrine premises.Meanwhile, the Sena's move has drawn sharp reactions from the Muslim community. The Muslim Jamaat Welfare Society, Ulhasnagar, in a letter to the state home minister Gopinath Munde, sought his intervention in preventing communal tension. The society has requested the state government to depute adequate security at the dargah to prevent any untoward incidents.
