Will move court to be party to dargah case: Ajmer clerics | India News – Times of India

AJMER: The hereditary khadims (caretakers) of Ajmer Sharif Dargah broke their silence Friday on a Hindu organisation’s lawsuit seeking an ASI survey to establish the purported existence of a Shiva temple at the site, saying it was a travesty to question the antecedents of a shrine revered by people of all faiths and drag it into a legal battle.
Anjuman Syedzadgan, which represents the khadims of Sayyid lineage tasked with conducting the religious affairs of the shrine to Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, said it would petition the Ajmer munsif court to make it a party to Hindu Sena‘s suit.
Syed Sarwar Chishty, the committee’s secretary, said the dargah’s importance should not be compared with historical landmarks like Taj Mahal and Red Fort.
This is a place where every PM, from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, offered a chaddar during the annual Urs. It represents the ethos of India’s Constitution without discrimination. Hindu kings historically contributed silver and gold for its decoration,” Chisti said. “The dargah remained untouched even during Maratha rule in Ajmer.”
Syed Naseeruddin Chishti, successor to the dewan (head) of Ajmer dargah, issued a statement the previous day, dismissing the lawsuit as an attempt to gain “cheap popularity”. Syed Sarwar accused Vishnu Gupta, the Hindu Sena president, of misinterpreting history based on former judicial officer and academician Har Bilas Sarda’s 1911 book Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive.
He referred to a 1921 civil suit in which Sharda acknowledged the khadims as being the traditional caretakers of the dargah. “This is a place where people of all religions gather. Food cooked in the dargah is free of garlic and onion as a mark of respect for religious sentiments. Ajmer symbolises communal harmony and pluralism. We will participate in Hindu Sena’s civil suit to present the facts.”