Muslim community representatives coming out of Ladle Mashak Dargah after performing Urus rituals at Ladle Mashak Dargah in Aland, Kalaburagi, on Saturday. | Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI
Siddalinga Swamy, the head of Karuneshwar Math at Andola in Jewargi Taluk and the State president of right-wing outfit Sri Ram Sene, declared that the temple for Saint Raghava Chaitanya would be built at the premises of controversial Ladle Mashak Dargah in Aland, Kalaburagi district.
Addressing a huge gathering of saffron-clad mob near Aland on Saturday, he said that the Hindus would have to go long way before the construction of the temple in the Dargah.
“What happened last year and this year during Maha Sivaratri festivities is just a trailer. The actual cinema is yet to open… Before the Dargah came into existence, there was the Raghav Chaitanya shrine. Muslims had polluted the Shivalinga present inside Dargah. When we declared that we would offer Purification Puja to it on the day of Sivaratri last year, the district administration did not allow us. This year, we got permission from the court to do it. We hope that the court would also allow us to build a temple, just as it allowed the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. We will not rest till we build a temple,” he said, before leaving for offering puja to Raghava Chaitanya Shivalinga inside the Dargah.
Karnataka Waqf Tribunal and, later, the Kalaburagi Bench of Karnataka High Court, issued orders allowing 15 members from the Muslim community to perform Urus rituals between 8 am and 12 noon and 15 members of the Hindu community to offer Pooja to Raghava Chaitnya Shivalinga present inside the Dargah between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday.
14 members from the Muslim community performed Urus rituals and 15 members from the Hindu community, including Siddalinga Swamy, offered Mahashivaratri Pooja in the Dargah in the time slots allotted to them. Subhash Guttedar and Basavaraj Mattimadu, BJP leaders and MLAs for Aland and Gulbarga Rural constituencies respectively and BJP State Vice-president Malikayya Guttedar were among those who accompanied Siddalinga Swamy in the Dargah.
“As per court orders, we have offered puja peacefully for the purpose of eliminating evil powers. We are determined to build a temple there. Since the court has given us permission to offer puja, the Muslims should forward to cooperate and allow the construction and development of the temple. I would like to tell the Muslims that we don’t stop here. We will come again to clean the premises,” Mr. Siddalinga Swamy reiterated.
“What is happening here is not right. This Dargah belongs to everyone. Both Muslims and Hindus have been devotees of this holy place for centuries. There have never been problems between Hindus and Muslims as they were living peacefully as brothers. Now, enmity and hatred are being cultivated between these two communities by vested interests. It is clearly a politics and I appeal to both communities not to fall prey to it,” Mohammed Sadat Ansari, Manager of the Dargah, told media representatives earlier in the day after performing Urus rituals at the Dargah.
