CM Shinde’s fuelling of Malanggad controversy raises questions

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's statement about "liberating" Malanggad shrine has caused controversy. It is seen as an attempt to strengthen his saffron political base and project himself as a follower of aggressive Hindutva ideology. Malanggad has been a symbol of Hindutva politics in Thane, and by expressing his commitment to "liberate" it, Shinde is laying claim to this political plank. The shrine is claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, and there has been a long-standing legal battle over its ownership.

MUMBAI: Eknath Shinde’s public statement on Tuesday about being “committed to the ‘liberation’ of Malanggad”, a shrine claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, has sparked off a major controversy. Political observers believe that the CM, who is also one of the petitioners in the high court case on Malanggad, is attempting to strengthen his saffron political base and project himself as the legatee of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and Thane leader Anand Dighe’s aggressive Hindutva agenda.

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Shinde has been associated with the issue of the disputed 800-year-old shrine ever since he was a party worker under the leadership of his mentor, the late Anand Dighe. Malanggad also falls in the Lok Sabha constituency of his son Shrikant Shinde. Given the cold war between Shinde and the BJP in Thane over control over the political saffron base, the CM’s statement will help him and his party strengthen their base. Malanggad has long been the symbol of Hindutva politics in Thane, and by expressing his ‘commitment’ to ‘liberate’ it, Shinde has smartly laid claim to this political plank.

Gopal Landge, Kalyan district chief of the Shiv Sena, claimed that for the party, the Malanggad issue was not political but a “commitment to Hindutva”. “I became a corporator for the first time in 1986, and before that, from 1982-83 the Malanggad issue had been taken up by the Shiv Sena,” he said. “Both Bal Thackeray and Anand Dighe supported the Hindus’ claim on Malanggad when the ruling Congress was refusing to take a stand.”

Dinesh Deshmukh, president of the Hindu Manch, an umbrella group of Hindutva bodies in Thane district, and one of the petitioners in the high court along with Shinde, said they had been fighting a legal battle for the shrine since 2006. “After the Congress-NCP government brought the Malanggad trust under the Waqf Board, we challenged it in the high court,” he said. “Shinde, I and others filed a petition and got a stay on the decision. Now Shinde is the chief minister so we expect the charity commissioner to give the trust an ‘A’ certificate (recognition of a Hindu shrine). Trustees should also be appointed, else the government should appoint administrators on the trust.”

Deshmukh dismissed the claim of the dargah being 800 years old. “Muslims do not have a tradition of idol worship,” he said. “Dargahs have been destroyed even in Pakistan. This cannot be a Muslim shrine. Besides, the term ‘Haji’ in the shrine’s name was introduced only after 1935. Earlier it was called Buva or Baba Malang—even a tender document for construction of a road by the Thane collector in 1902 calls it Buva Malang Road.”

Questioned on CM Shinde’s promise to free the shrine, the Hindutva activist declared, “It is already free. The matter is in court, and the decision should come only from the court.”

Nasir Khan, chairman of the Peer Haji Malang Saheb Trust, was more placatory. “There must be some confusion,” he said of Shinde’s public statement about liberating the shrine. “Our CM is a very good, wise man and a devotee of Haji Baba. He won’t say something like this. He has no bias against anyone based on religion or caste—he is everyone’s CM.”

Claiming that the shrine was always a dargah, Khan said the Peshwas would pay obeisance to the Sufi saint. “They achieved victory against the British, which they ascribed to the saint’s blessings, and thus funded the work of the shrine,” he said. The 4,000 Hindus and Muslims around here all love Haji Baba and have faith in him. We live here together peacefully.”

Khan said that whenever they felt someone with vested political interests was deliberately creating trouble at the space, they would inform the police commissioner and the local police station. “If someone comes here to create a ruckus and then makes it viral to misguide people, then it is for the police department to look into it,” he said. “Now too, we have sent a letter to the police station as we always do when we feel there could be trouble. We want peace here and do not want to get into political controversies.”