VHP now claims another Dargah in Karnataka was Anubhava Mantapa once, CM assures action
Bengaluru: Amidst the controversies surrounding the claims of fringe Hindu groups that have labeled several mosques and Muslim shrines in the country have been temples initially, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has now laid the claim on another Muslim shrine in Karnataka.
VHP and Sri Ram Sene have now claimed that Peer Pasha Dargah in Karnataka’s Basavakalyan was once an Anubhava Mantapa – a socio-religious abode founded by 12th-century social reformer Basavanna.
The VHP has called on the state government to intervene in the matter and has also called for a protest in Bidar with several Lingayat pontiffs offering support to the protest.
Speaking to reporters in Kalaburagi, Sri Ram Sene State President Siddalinga Swami alleged that the dargah was built over the Lingayat shrine during the Hyderabad Nizam’s period. The outfit claimed to have documental evidence to prove that the shrine was dedicated to followers of the Lingayat faith, founded by Basavanna.
Prominent Lingayat pontiff from Belagavi’s Hukkeri Hire Matha has called the Dargah a Hindu shrine while another group All India Veeraishaiva Mahasabha has also offered support to VHP and Sri Ram Sene.
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai whose state has been the epicenter of communal issues over the past few months has assured to seek a report on the claims and said his government will ascertain facts based on documents.
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Uddhav Thackeray had contacted Fadnavis as well as me after his govt faced crisis: CM Shinde
Nashik, May 2: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday claimed that Uddhav Thackeray had reached out to him and offered the chief minister's post after his rebellion plunged the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state in a crisis in 2022.
He also termed as correct the claim made by deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis that Thackeray, then chief minister, had contacted the BJP leader too and offered the top post.
The Thackeray government collapsed in June 2022 after Shinde and the majority of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against the party leadership.
"There is truth to the claim as they made these efforts when we decided to leave. They (Thackeray and his associates) also called me and offered the CM's post, but I had not taken the decision to be the chief minister then. We left because they had deviated from Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology," Shinde told reporters here.
He was replying to a question about Fadnavis's claim that Uddhav Thackeray had offered him the chief minister's post after Shinde rebelled and the MVA government was about to fall. Thackeray had parted ways with the BJP earlier in 2019 and formed government with the NCP and Congress.
"They also made efforts in Delhi, saying the entire Shiv Sena will be with them (BJP) and asked BJP leaders not to take only some people (i.e., Shinde and his supporters) in their fold. But by then, 50 people (MLAs) were already with me. What Devendra ji has said has truth to it," Shinde said.
Asked for comment, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sachin Ahir questioned the time chosen by Shinde and Fadnavis to make these claims.
"They are making such statements after two years only to create confusion," he said.
