AHMEDABAD: The Baroda Municipal Corporation did not heed a compromise formula offered by the caretakers of the Dargah of Sufi saint Syed Rashiuddin Chisti and simply went ahead with the demolition of the structure because local BJP leaders were keen on seeing this “mini-Babri Masjid” completely destroyed.
Mr Gani Qureshi, the BJP’s only prominent Muslim face in Baroda who also heads its minority cell, admitted in an exclusive interview to this newspaper that “the demolition of this dargah is a very well planned conspiracy. The municipal corporation authorities had promised us that it would not be demolished.
We were working upon a compromise formula, but they backed out and simply razed it.”
Though the Baroda Municipal Corporation maintains that the Dargah, which Muslims believe is of the Sufi saint Syed Rashiuddin Chisti, was razed just because it was an “encroachment,” Mr Qureshi says this is untrue. Baroda Mayor Sunil Solanki claimed this Dargah was nothing special. It was just an encroachment, like many others. We have also razed 18 Hindu religious structures. There were protests even then. However, when the Dargah was razed, the protest turned violent.”
However, while the civic authority says the Dargah was an encroachment, evidence proves that it was registered in 1912 in the first city survey carried out by Sayajirao Maharaj in Baroda.
“Though this Dargah is on record since only 1912, it was at least 385 years old. There was no trust involved. It was a public thing. Of late, the Karim Mansuri Samaj used to give funds.
This was not just a Muslim thing. The daily diya and daily expenditure were borne out by Hindus.
The Ranchhodbhai Masala family has been pouring in funds for at least 75 years, generation after generation. I don’t understand how the municipal corporation calls it a plain encroachment,” Mr Qureshi said.
The Dargah was considered a mini-Babri Masjid and the BJP had designs on this structure for a long time, said eminent human rights activist Prof. J.S. Bandukwala.—By arrangement with The Asianage
