Illegal dargah in Arabian Sea demolished after Raj Thackeray’s ultimatum

Action to demolish the mazar-like structure, which had reportedly come up on revenue department land, commenced early on Thursday morning.

Less than 24 hours after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray sought the demolition of an allegedly illegal dargah or Muslim saint’s shrine off the Mahim coastline in Mumbai, the State government swung into action with the Mumbai civic administration, launching a demolition drive on Thursday.

The government action came after Mr. Thackeray — during his rally in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Wednesday on the occasion of Gudi Padwa — played clips of the mazar or mausoleum-like structure that had come up in the Arabian Sea off Mahim. He warned that his party would not tolerate any “illicit constructions” of religious structures by the minority community. Mr. Thackeray then delivered an ultimatum to the government and the Mumbai Police Commissioner, warning that if they did not pull down the structure, MNS activists would do it themselves and build a Ganesha temple in its lieu.

However, Opposition leaders from the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) cast aspersions on the swiftness of the demolition, stating that it smacked of a ploy on part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde Sena faction along, with the MNS, to project Mr. Raj Thackeray as ‘greater’ than his estranged cousin, Sena (UBT) leader and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Action to demolish the mazar-like structure, which had reportedly come up on revenue department land, commenced early on Thursday morning. The structure was removed by district and police authorities, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) supplying the machinery for the demolition.

According to Mumbai City Resident Collector Sadanand Jadhav, a six-member team was constituted for the demolition with the help of BMC personnel, while police authorities provided security.

Opposition leaders, however, linked the suddenness of the demolition drive with Mr. Raj Thackeray’s address.

“If that structure is illegal, then I welcome its demolition. But I am astonished that the speed with which this demolition has taken place. It is clear that [Deputy CM and BJP leader] Devendra Fadnavis had given suitable clues to Raj Thackeray to deliberately raise the issue during his Gudi Padwa address, and then demolish it the next day in order to prove his [Raj Thackeray’s] effectiveness in solving such problems,” said AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel.