Mumbai: After a successful campaign to ensure that women could worship at the inner sanctorum of Hindu temples in Maharashtra, activist Trupti Desai and members of more than two dozen organisations held a protest at the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.
While leading a group of activists from Lonavla, Desai said she was not worried about the threats received from a local AIMIM leader, Haji Rafat Hussain, who said Desai would not be allowed to enter the inner part of the shrine and threatened to smear her face with black ink if she did so.
Last week, a local Shiv Sena leader had said that Desai would be hit with ‘slippers’ if she tried to enter the Dargah. “She cannot be allowed to enter the ‘mazar’ at any cost,” said Arafat Shaikh.
However, Desai said she was not afraid of threats and reiterated to reporters and TV channels that “we will hold a peaceful march for women’s rights at Haji Ali Dargah today, pray there and later decide the future course of action.”
Several other activists, who are part of a forum called Haji Ali Sab Ke Liye (Haji Ali is for everyone), pointed that the shrine had allowed the entry of women into its inner sanctorum until 2011 and questioned the sudden change of regulations.
Marium Dhawale of All India Democratic Women’s Association told Gulf News, “We are a part of the forum which comprises over 25 organisations. We want to raise our voice against this practice of not allowing women when our Constitution guarantees equality before the law. How can anyone stop women from entering the sanctorum when the Ajmer Dargah (in Rajashtan) and Mahim Dargah (in Mumbai) allow women.”
She said it was a peaceful protest and “Muslim fundamentalists are in another corner holding their protest.”
The BJP and the BJP-led government in Maharashtra have supported the entry of women in the Haji Ali Dargah.
The issue had gained national attention in January when Desai led successful campaigns for the cause of women’s entry into the inner sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar and Trimbakeshwar in Nashik. After a lot resistance, the Shingnapur trust finally decided to allow women’s entry on to the sacred platform on April 8.
On April 1, the Bombay High Court held that women have the fundamental right to enter any place of worship where men are allowed and it was the government’s duty to ensure that this right is protected.
