Women’s groups demanding lifting of the ban on entry into the Haji Ali Dargah’s sanctum sanctorum staged a protest at Azad Maidan on Thursday declaring that their stir would intensify ahead of the International Women’s Day on March 8.
The protests in Mumbai come in the wake of the protest march to Shani Shingnapur temple on Republic Day.
The organisations, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and Vaghini Mahila Sanghatana (VMS), demanded on Thursday that the ban on women’s entry in the dargah’s sanctum sanctorum, which was imposed in 2011, be lifted. The BMMA has also filed a petition at the Bombay High Court which is to be heard on February 3.
“We are waiting to see what happens at the court. But we are going to intensify our agitation and mobilise women against patriarchal mindsets. There is nothing in Islam that prohibits women’s entry in the dargah. These impositions are by patriarchal men who take control of religious places. But this country runs on the Constitution. This is a fight for equal rights. The reason given by the trustees for banning women are baseless. Religion should become scientific,” Jyoti Badekar of VMS told The Hindu .
Ms. Badekar said women will stage a protest march to Haji Ali on the lines of the one held at Shani Shingnapur on or before March 8.
