After temple, dargah: Haji Ali next target for Bhumata

‘Haji Ali For All,’ a joint effort of more than 20 activists, NGOs and social groups, headed by Bhumata Brigade was launched on Wednesday for achieving the goal of women’s entry to the shrine of Haji Ali in Mumbai. Bhumata Brigade president Trupti Desai, who successfully fought with the management of Shani Shingnapur Temple Trust against gender inequality in visiting the temple earlier this month, has now announced that she will enter the Haji Ali shrine premises with Muslim women on April 28, but is open to talks with the trust authorities.

The Bhumata Brigade, discussing the issue with the media at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Wednesday, said that the agitation was launched so that women are allowed entry to the famed dargah. The nearly six centuries old shrine, nestled amid rocks in the Arabian Sea off the Worli shoreline, has allegedly restricted the entry of women to the sanctum sanctorum since June 2012.

Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), founded in 2007, has filled a PIL in the Bombay high court seeking entry of women into the inner sanctum of Haji Ali dargah.

Talking about the additional help to the cause, Noor Safia Niyaz from BMMA said, “We are happy that more people are joining the efforts towards attaining equality.”

Ms Desai said, “We will launch the agitation at the Haji Ali shrine on April 28. However, we are ready to discuss the issue with its trustees.” The group confirmed that the battle isn’t against the religion, but the idea of gender discrimination at a place of worship.

Ms Desai has made an appeal to the Muslim women to join hands and end the alleged gender discrimination at any other dargahs or shrines in India and promised to take up their cause. “We are accused of harbouring political motives... But we are living in the 21st century. It is about time we change in this scientific era. A handful of individuals cannot stop us,” Ms Desai said.

She said several Muslim women and other groups were fighting for equality vis-a-vis the Haji Ali Dargah for years and had even moved courts seeking relief. These groups want women to be allowed to go to the tomb of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari and offer ‘chadar’ and prayers in the sanctum sanctorum, she said. The Haji Ali Dargah Trust has justified the prevailing custom on the ground that allowing women up to the tomb of the Pir would be ‘anti-Islamic’.

Earlier this month, in a decision with far-reaching ramifications, the trust managing the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra had allowed women to enter and pray at the open-to-sky platform.