After Mathura, Varanasi, temple claims under Ajmer Dargah, court issues notice

New Delhi:

A court in Rajasthan’s Ajmer has issued notices to the Archaeological Survey of India and the Center following a petition claiming that there was a Shiva temple in the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer . The motion, filed in September, asks the court to once again allow on-site worship.

The petitioner’s lawyer Yogesh Siroja said civil judge Manmohan Chandel had ordered that notices be issued to the Ajmer Dargah Committee, Ministry of Minority Affairs and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) office. in New Delhi, to seek their response.

These claims follow similar claims made about key shrines across the country, including those in Varanasi, Mathura and Bhojshala in Dhar.

The court order follows violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, where four people died and many others were injured after a clash sparked by a local court’s order to investigate at a mosque . The petitioners had told the court that the mosque was built after the destruction of an ancient temple.

Vishnu Gupta, leader of the right-wing Hindu Sena group, who is the petitioner in the case involving Ajmer Sharif, said, “Our demand was that the Ajmer dargah be declared a Sankat Mochan Mahadev temple.

“If the dargah has any kind of registration, then it should be cancelled. Its investigation should be done through the ASI and Hindus should be given the right to worship there,” he said. he declared according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The petition cites a book by retired judge Harvilas Sharda, written in 1911, and claims that Hindu sculptures and iconography are visible around the Ajmer Dargah, including on the Buland Darwaza.

The book “Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive” claims that the debris of a Shiva temple was used in the construction of the dargah. The petition also alleges that a Jain temple exists in the sanctum sanctorum of the site.

The Dargah Committee denied the allegations. Syed Sarwar Chishti, secretary of Anjuman Syed Jadgan, said the dargah promotes unity in diversity and pluralism. The dargah has thousands of followers all over the world, from Afghanistan to Indonesia.

“Such acts are against communal harmony and the nation. The court has issued notices to three parties today. We will see what we can do. Such acts targeting centuries-old mosques in Kashi, Mathura, cannot are not good,” he was quoted as saying. by news agency IANS.

The next hearing of the case will take place on December 20.