By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The Congress government of Narasimha Rao in 1991 had started appointing politicians at Dargah Committee of the shrine of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and the tradition has continued till date. Muslim Ekta Manch, an umbrella body of Muslim caste panchayats in Ajmer, says it has sullied the image of Dargah Committee and caused grave mismanagement of the shrine. The Manch, therefore, has now demanded Congress president and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to end the tradition and reconstitute the committee with clean, honest and religious people.
Dargah Committee is a constitutional body under the Government of India. It is constituted every five year under Dargah Khawaja Saheb Act 1955. Central Government appoints nine-member committee who among them elects a president and a vice president for every one year.
“Since Mughal period to British regime till Independent India the Ajmer dargah was managed by Islamic scholars, religious heads and people attached with Sufism,” said Muzaffar Bharti, Media In-charge of Muslim Ekta Manch. But in 1991 the Congress laid foundation of political appointment at the committee.
“Congress followed the tradition by passing the act in 1955 but in the Congress govt of 1991 social justice minister Sitaram Kesri appointed MPs Tarique Anwar and Syed Shahabuddin at the Dargah Committee and thus laid foundation of handing over this religious place to politicians,” said Bharti.
In May 2003 BJP government at the centre formed the Dargah Committee and included BJP workers and the entire term of the committee was controversial as much as that a social group had to move Delhi high court to dissolve the committee, it was first time in the history of the committee.
In August 2007, minority affairs minister AR Antuley held the then committee for mismanagement and infighting and dissolved it and formed the present committee, but he too included workers from Congress and UPA-1 allies.
This has resulted in mismanagement in properties of the dargah, tenants, misuse of dargah guest house and vehicles by dargah committee members causing loss of lakhs, said Bharti, who on behalf of the Manch has sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi to block entry of politicians or people with political background to the committee.
Talking to TCN over phone from Ajmer, Muzaffar Bharti said: “We have demanded Sonia Gandhi to block entry of political personalities in the Dargah Committee. We have also demanded to reconstitute the committee (whose term ended on 23rd August 2012) with honest and religious people. We have also demanded to order probe into the entire term of current committee.” He said there are allegations of corruption and misuse of Dargah properties by the committee members.
In March 2012, Advocate Suhel Tirmizi, a member of the committee had made allegations of corruption against members of the committee and wrote to Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid but rather than probing the allegations, the ministry put the letter in cold storage, alleged Bharti adding that Khurshid is considering renominating some present members ignoring corruption charges against them.
“Besides Tirmizi’s letter which had documentary proofs, we too handed him a letter with documents when he visited the Dargah last year to offer chador on behalf of Sonia Gandhi, but so far no action has been taken,” said Bharti.
“To save the image of UPA, political workers should be kept out of the Dargah committee and government should include those people who are clean and have passion to serve the pilgrims of the dargah,” the Manch said in the letter demanding Sonia to intervene in the case and order probe into the entire term of the present committee and filing cases against the guilty. The letter was signed by Shekhzada Zulfikar Chishti, president, Gharib Nawaz Sufi Mission Society, Sarwar Siddiqui, president, Taragarh Dargah Committee, Muzaffar Bharti, Haji Noor Mohammad, Ismail Bohra and working committee members of the Manch.
Asked if the Manch has some hidden interest behind the demands, Muzaffar Bharti said: We are a social organization working in various fields like child rights, women rights and other social issues. We have no connection with dargah or dargah committee. We have no hidden interest.
He further categorically said: “None of the Manch members have applied for membership of the Dargah Committee. We are not interested in it. If anyone of us is appointed at the Dargah Committee, he will resign next day.” But he also warned that if corrupt persons are reappointed the Manch will move the court.
“If Khurshid reappoints any present member who is facing corruption charges, the Manch will move the High Court,” said Bharti.