On January 4, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, while addressing an enthusiastic gathering during ‘Malang-gad Harinam Mahotsav’ in Thane announced that he would fulfil the promise of liberating the old Haji Malang Dargah, which is a ‘disputed land’ between the Hindus and the Muslims.
This feeling was further ignited after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in the pran patishta inaugural event of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The Ram Mandir has been one of the exclusive poll promises by the Bharatiya Janata Party and with the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the temple can serve as a trump card for Modi to become the Indian PM for the third time.
Anand Dighe and Eknath Shinde
Anand Dighe, who was a mentor of Eknath Shinde, dreamed of ‘liberating Haji Malang Dargah’. Shinde, a former Shiv Sena worker under the late Bal Thackeray, broke away from the party in 2022 and joined hands with the Bhartiya Janata Party, collapsing the government of Bal Thackeray’s son and now Shiv Sena (UBT) faction president Uddhav Thackeray.
“I know your feelings about Malang-gad. Anand Dighe started the liberation movement of Malang-gad after which we have started saying ‘Jay Malang Shri Malang’. Let me say this, Eknath Shinde will not stay quiet till he fulfils your wishes,” Shinde said to ‘Malang-gad Harinam Mahotsav’, a religious gathering in Thane district recently.
History behind the shrine
The 12th-century Haji Malang Dargah, also known as Haji Ali, is a famous shrine of a sufi saint named Haji Abdul Rehman.
The dispute over the site first began in 1817. While the Muslims argue the land belongs to Haji Abdul Rehman, the Hindus contest the claim, saying it is a samadhi of Machindranath, a deity in Nathpanthi sect. It was later converted into a dargah, the Hindus allege.
The Gazetteers of Bombay Presidency that was published in 1882 makes a reference to the structure stating that the shrine built in honour of Haji Abdul Rahman, who came with several followers and settled on the lower plateau of the hill that existed there in the 12th century.
Intense poll expected
A long-standing disagreement is getting the attention and is expected to become more intense in the run up to the Maharashtra Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
The Malang-gad (gad means a fort in Marathi), a hill in Ambernath in the Mumbai metropolitan region of Thane district, is expected to be a key poll issue as mentioned by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde.
