AIMIM backs axe on 'illegal dargah', but dubs it a 'match-fixing'

Mumbai, March 23

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) state President and MP Syed Imtiaz Jaleel has fully supported the BMC's act of razing an illegal "dargah" which was coming up in the Arabian Sea off Mahim, here on Thursday.

However, he questioned the honesty of the intentions behind the move and said it appeared to be an "understanding" between the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), just as the holy month of fasting, Ramzan, starts.

"We have no objections if the structure 'dargah' was illegal and it has been demolished... But what about hundreds of other similar unauthorised constructions of various communities that keep cropping up all over the state? They should also be dealt with similarly," Jaleel told the media.

On the 'dargah' demolition issue today, he pointed accusing fingers at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and their "puppet" MNS President Raj Thackeray of acting in tandem to build up passions on Ramzan-eve.

He wondered how, if the alleged "mazar" on a tiny islet was coming up openly since the past two years, the state government, BMC, Police and elected representatives remained silent, doing nothing to stop it.

"I feel that Fadnavis may have asked Raj to raise the issue in his Gudi Padwa rally, and he would get it removed the next morning... This way Raj's stature would go up before his supporters, and simultaneously the Sena-BJP wouldn't spoil its image before the Muslim community," Jaleel claimed.

He raised doubts over "Raj's real motives" behind raising the issue of mosque loudspeakers just before Ramadan month and keeping quiet the rest of the year, and asking for the Muslim community's stand on such issues.

"But, what's his locus standi...? Is he the CM, Deputy CM, a Minister, MP, MLA? Who is he...?" asked Jaleel, who has recently made overtures to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-Shiv Sena (UBT).

Barely 12 hours after Raj Thackeray made a dramatic video-supported expose on the "mazaar" emerging on a tiny rocky-sandy islet near the Mahim sea, the BMC rushed a squad along with a police posse which swung into action and bulldozed it this morning.