Asaduddin Owaisi slams plea seeking Ajmer Sharif dargah survey: 'Even PM Modi sends chadar there'

Asaduddin Owaisi, Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM chief, has accused the BJP-RSS of spreading hatred against mosques and dargahs. (PTI)

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has taken strong exception to the recent civil suit filed by the Hindu Sena seeking a court-monitored survey of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah by the Archaeological Survey of India, claiming that a temple of Lord Shiva existed at the site where the mosque was built.

A local court in Rajasthan's Ajmer on Wednesday issued notices to the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs, the ASI and the Ajmer Dargah Committee over the petition claiming that a Shiva temple once stood on the site of the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, and alleged that the Sufi shrine was built over the temple’s remains. The case will be heard next on December 20.

"The dargah has been there for the last 800 years...Prime Ministers starting from Nehru have been sending 'Chadar' to the dargah. PM Modi too sends 'Chadar' there," Owaisi, a Lok Sabha MP, told news agency ANI.

He, however, also targeted the BJP and the RSS accusing it of "spreading hatred against mosques and dargahs" in the country.

"Why have BJP-RSS spread this hatred regarding mosques and dargahs? Why are the lower courts not hearing the Places of Worship Act? This way, where will the rule of law and democracy go? This is not in favour of the country. The governance of Modi and RSS is weakening the rule of law in the country. All this is being done on the directions of BJP-RSS," Owaisi added.

On Wednesday, the Ajmer court of Civil Judge Manmohan Chandel heard the petitioner and admitted the case and sent notices to the Centre, ASI and the mosque committee.

“The court asked us why we are filing it. We told the court everything and after listening to us earnestly, the court issued notice to the concerned parties once it was satisfied,” Gupta said, speaking to The Indian Express.

According to Gupta, Har Bilas Sarda, “who held an important position during British Rule, wrote in 1910 about the presence of a Hindu temple”.

“Tradition says that inside the cellar is the image of Mahadeva in a temple, on which sandal used to be placed every day by a Brahmin family still maintained by the dargah as gharyali (bell striker),” Sarda, a judge, politician and an academic, wrote in one of his books, referring to the dargah, according to Gupta.

“There are roads in Ajmer named after Sarda, so we said that the court should take his words seriously, that at least a survey should be done so that the truth comes out,” Gupta said, claiming that “the Ajmer structure was constructed after demolishing Hindu and Jain temples”.

Gupta said his outfit, the Hindu Sena, wants the dargah to be declared a Hindu temple, its registration cancelled, an ASI survey conducted, "and that we should be permitted to pray”.

Citing locals and other "evidences", Gupta further claims that as recently as 50 years ago, a priest used to pray there, and that there used to be a Shivling which was moved to the basement. "So, a survey should be done so that everyone becomes clear,” he said.

Reacting to the developments, Syed Sarwar Chishty, secretary of Anjuman Syed Zadgan — a body of Dargah caretakers, slammed the petition as well as the recent flurry of cases claiming the presence of temples at the mosque sites across the country.

“The Dargah is a symbol of communal harmony, diversity and pluralism. It promotes unity in diversity and there are crores of followers of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti across the world… Such things are not in the interest of the nation,” he said.