A day after a Rajasthan court issued notice to Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in a petition claiming that the iconic Ajmer Sharif Dargah is on a Shiva templeKashmiri leaders Mehbooba Mufti and Sajad Lone expressed disbelief at the litigation.
In a post on X, former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti referred to the notice claiming that a former chief justice of India had “opened the Pandora’s box” through his ruling, “sparking a contentious debate about minority religious places”.
“Despite a Supreme Court ruling that the status quo should be maintained as it existed in 1947, his judgement has paved the way for surveys of these sites potentially leading to increased tension between Hindus and Muslims,” she said, claiming that recent communal violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, was “reminiscent of the partition days”.
“First mosques and now Muslim shrines like Ajmer Sharif are being targeted which can result in further bloodshed,” she said. “The question remains – who will take responsibility for perpetuating this communal violence reminiscent of the partition days?”
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) president Sajad Lone also questioned the notices, saying that in this age of technology and artificial intelligence “our desire for invention seems to be all invested in our obsession to invent hidden temples”. He also described the civil suit “in pursuit of a temple supposedly hidden somewhere in the Ajmer Dargah Sharif” as “yet another shocker”.
“As we bid good bye to 2024, we are in the age of Artificial Intelligence. The tech age. And as Indians let us be honest. We have not contributed to any technological revolution. Yes we have the resources to make use of them by buying them. But scientific innovation. No. None. Not even remotely. Our Indian tech revolution is as users not as inventors,” Lone posted on X.
A significant section of the educated population is applauding the suit, he claimed.
“I was recently in Dubai and had the chance to see magnificence in the form of architecture of the temples that have been built here. What an oasis of tolerance and mutual respect Dubai has turned out to be. So good it is. Literally every nationality is here and in how an orderly manner they live,” he said.
He claimed that in India “electoral victories have come at a cost, which have left this country soulless”.
“This country once defined by its soulfulness is tragical (sic), now soulless and in search of a soul,” he said. “And Ajmer of all the places symbolises spiritualism. It is the destination of all faiths, where all converge irrespective of religion, caste, creed. A unique belief and trust in the spiritual deliverance of that great seat of spirituality.”
