HINDU Sena chief Vishnu Gupta, who filed a civil lawsuit claiming that the dargah of Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer was built over a Shiva temple, on Saturday lodged a police complaint alleging that he has received death threats for filing the petition. Gupta said he filed the complaint at the Barakhamba Road police station in Delhi after he received two threatening calls -- one from an Indian number and another from Canada. “The caller from Canada threatened to behead me for filing the petition in the Ajmer court. He threatened that I have made a big mistake by filing the petition regarding Ajmer Dargah,” he said. Police said that they were looking into Gupta’s complaint. “The complaint was filed at around 3 pm and we are looking into it. Appropriate action will be taken,” a senior officer said. Gupta said he would not be cowed down by such threats.

 

He has demanded that the dargah in Rajasthan’s Ajmer be declared as Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple and Hindus be given the right to worship there. The dargah is visited by thousands of devotees cutting across religious lines every day. A court issued notices to the Dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday, seeking their response on the petition filed by Gupta. The court’s move to accept the petition and notices to the three parties has sparked a major controversy, with the Muslim leaders slamming it as an attempt to disturb communal harmony. The development comes amid simmering tensions over several similar temple-mosque lawsuits especially in Uttar Pradesh.

 

The next hearing in the Ajmer case is on December 20. Dispute is in court, do not politicise issue, says BJP’s Vasudev Devnani on Ajmer Sharif Dargah controversy: BJP leader and Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker, Vasudev Devnani urged not to “politicise” the issue of a suit claiming Shiva temple within Ajmer Sharif Dargah. Speaking to ANI, on Saturday, he stated that the matter remains in court, and the decision is also pending there. “This dispute is still in the court. The court has just issued notices. After that, the court will decide and whatever it says about the survey, everyone should follow it... I urge everyone not to politicise this matter.... Many centres of faith have indeed been tampered with in the last 1100-1200 years. Let the court decide on those centres...” On the recent claims to mosques across the country, the Ajmer Dargah chief said, “What did (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat say in 2022? ‘How long will you look for a shivling in every mosque’? The same was done inside Samhal. The consequences were that five innocent people lost their lives. Out of the five dead, two were the lone breadwinners.” “How big is this setback (to their families)? They (authorities) do not have any remorse for it,” he said.