Explained: Why Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde Wants To Reclaim The Controversial Haji Malang Sufi Shrine

The Haji Malang Sufi shrine, located near Kalyan city in Maharashtra, is under focus on the eve of the Malang Gad Yatra.

The religious event is being held this year on 24 February and will see Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his son Shrikant Shinde, the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) for Kalyan, in attendance.

The event, held by Shiv Sena every year, has garnered greater attention this year due to a statement made by Shinde last month. In a public speech at the Shri Malang Gad Harinam Mahotsav on 2 January, the Chief Minister declared that he was determined to ‘liberate’ the shrine and that he ‘will soon fulfill the wishes of all devotees’.

The shrine, known locally as the 'Haji Malang Dargah', has been built on a hill fort named Malang Gad that dates back to the early medieval period. Though it sees a large footfall of Hindu as well as Muslim devotees, the shrine has turned controversial in recent decades after the now-deceased Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe led an agitation and claimed that the dargah was originally a Hindu temple.

Who Was Haji Malang?

According to folklore, the shrine was built in the memory of a Sufi mystic named Haji Abdul-Rehman, who is said to have arrived on the Indian shores with his band of followers from Yemen in the twelfth century.

It is believed that after the residents living in the villages near the Malang Gad were agitated with the despotic rule of the local king, the Sufi mystic was commanded by gods to visit the gad and alleviate people’s suffering.

While on the way to the fort, the Sufi mystic is said to have asked for water at the house of Brahmin. The latter took pity on the Sufi and gave him sweet milk instead. The mystic then marched on to the fort and with his supernatural powers is said to have converted the king and queen to stone.

Subsequently, people from the nearby villages are supposed to have requested the Sufi to stay on the fort and continue to protect them. The mystic along with his followers is then said to have given in to their pleas and came to be known as Haji Malang Shah after settling in the hill fort.

The Bombay Gazetteer published by the colonial administration in 1882 notes that the dargah was indeed built in the honour of the Sufi mystic and that there were also a few shrines devoted to some of his disciples.

It also notes another legend that the local king is supposed to have married off his daughter to Haji Malang.

The Gazetteer further says that since there was a widely-held belief that it was the Haji Malang’s spirit that didn’t let English forces take control of the port town of Kalyan, the Maratha Confederacy then led by the Peshwas rebuilt the shrine and entrusted the task of its upkeep to a Brahmin from Kalyan named Kashinath Pant Ketkar.

Roots Of Dispute

Up to the first half of the twentieth century, the shrine was managed by a trust comprising members from multiple faiths, including Hindus, Muslims, and Parsees. The right to look after its daily affairs was jointly held by the Ketkar family and the Muslim family claiming descent from the Sufi saint.

However, matters reached the Supreme Court when the descendants of the saint, with the support of a few trustees, started claiming entire control over the daily operations of the shrine and its property.

According to the current trustees of the shrine, the apex court, in its judgement delivered in the year 1954, ruled in favour of the Ketkars. It is also supposed to have said in its ruling that since the shrine was a composite structure visited by devotees of both faiths, it will be governed as per the local traditions and not by the beliefs of any specific religion.

After a brief period of calm, the shrine became a site of dispute again in the 1980s after Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe, known for his bold statements and religious persona, declared that the dargah was initially a Nathpanthi temple dedicated to Lord Machhindranath.

Followed by this claim, Dighe along with then-chief minister Manohar Joshi and Uddhav Thackeray had jointly conducted a ‘maha aarti’ in 1996 at the shrine in the presence of thousands of Shiv Sena party men.

Political Context Today

Shinde has consistently claimed that he decided to part ways from Uddhav Thackeray and wrest control of the party from the latter owing to the party's deviation from the path of Hindutva ideology.

Apart from encouraging his cadre to conduct all Hindu festivals with pomp and pride, Shinde has proved that he will go the extra mile to pronounce his commitment to Hindutva in a firmer manner.

For instance, a few months after having taken charge of the government, Shinde is said to have brought the controversy around Afzal Khan’s tomb to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ attention.

The tomb of the seventeenth-century Adil Shahi general, located near the foot of Pratap Gad, had been converted into a religious structure over the past few decades.

As per contemporary historical sources, since the general is said to have vandalised the famed Hindu temples of Pandharpur and Tuljapur apart from attacking Chhatrapati Shivaji during a truce meet, illegal construction of a dargah-like structure around the tomb had not gone down well with the locals.

The Bombay High Court had ordered in 2017 the removal of all later additions made to the small tomb. Fearing a backlash from the minority sections, successive governments had refused to act on the orders. However, in November 2022, the Shinde-led government ordered the Satara District administration to carry out the court's orders.

With several key elections ahead and Malang Gad on his agenda, Shinde seems to have signalled to the Shiv Sena supporters caught in the dilemma of which faction to support that it is his party, not the other Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, which is committed to the Hindutva as interpreted by party founder Balasaheb Thackeray.