On Wednesday, a local court in Ajmer, known the world over as the home of the dargah visited by thousands of devotees cutting across religious divides every day, issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India on the plea seeking to declare the shrine a temple.
The notice came just days after four people were killed in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh in violence following a local court ordering a survey of a Mughal-era shrine, the Shahi Jama Masjid, which petitioners said was built after destroying an old temple. And set off fears that Ajmer could become another communal tinderbox.
While dargah committee officials declined to comment, Syed Sarwar Chishti, secretary of the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the khadims (caretakers) of the Ajmer dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines.
He said the dargah which he described as a symbol of communal harmony and secularism comes under the Minority Affairs ministry and the ASI has nothing to do with it.
"The community accepted the decision in the Babri Masjid case and we believed nothing will happen after that but unfortunately such things are happening again and again. The example of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh is in front of us. This must stop," he told reporters.
He added that the Anjuman be made party to the case.
The plea seeking directions to start worship in the temple was filed in September and the next hearing is on December 20.
"Our demand was that the Ajmer dargah be declared a Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple and if the dargah has any kind of registration, it should be cancelled. Its survey should be done through ASI and Hindus should be given the right to worship there," plaintiff Vishnu Gupta told reporters.
The Hindu Sena president has referred to a book by academic Har Bilas Sarda to support his claim that there was a Shiv temple where the dargah was raised.
He claimed he had conducted research for two years and found that there was a Shiva temple which was destroyed by Muslim invaders and a dargah built.
As debate – and concerns – escalated, Union minister Giriraj Singh wondered why.
"A court has ordered survey in Ajmer. What is the problem if court has ordered a survey? This is a truth that when Mughals came to India, they demolished our temples. The Congress government has only done appeasement till now. If (Jawaharlal) Nehru would have stopped it in 1947 itself, there would have been no need to approach the court today," he said.
At the centre of much of the debate was The Places of Worship (special provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947 as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places.
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