 "Who is Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta, who claims there was a temple at the Ajmer Dargah?")
A local court in Ajmer on Wednesday admitted a petition seeking a physical survey of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, the shrine of the revered Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
In the petition, Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta claimed that the renowned dargah was originally a Lord Shiva temple.
The court issued notices to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and the Ajmer Dargah Committee, and listed the matter for December 20.
Here’s all we know about Vishnu Gupta.
About Vishnu Gupta
Born in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, Vishnu Gupta, 40, moved to Delhi when he was young. Influenced by militant Hindu nationalism, he joined the Shiv Sena’s youth wing as a student and later the Bajrang Dal, according to Indian Express.
Gupta and a few others founded the Hindu Sena in 2011, which he says currently has “lakhs of members” with branches in “almost all parts of India.” The organisation has no affiliation with the Sangh Parivar, the Shiv Sena, or any of its connected groups.
According to the outfit’s website, it “aims to oppose Islamisation in any form, Sharia law implementation, love jihad and Islamic extremism in India." It claims to “highlight and protest and take legal action against any person/entity causing harm to the sovereignty of India and Sanatana Dharma.”
In addition, Gupta and his group made headlines for numerous reasons, including vandalism, assault and even organising a havan in honour of Trump’s win in the 2016 US presidential election.
The outfit accused actor-politician Kamal Haasan of offending religious sentiments in May 2019 by calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, a “Hindu terrorist.” The complaint was filed in Delhi’s Patiala court.
Gupta’s organisation has backed the “Balochistan freedom struggle” in Pakistan over the years and, more recently, has demonstrated in favour of Hindus in Bangladesh, according to the report.
His controversies
Vishnu Gupta and his group have also been the subject of numerous controversies and FIRs, many of which are connected to incidents like assaults, vandalism, and the spread of misleading information.
Delhi Police arrested Gupta in October 2011 after he allegedly assaulted Supreme Court attorney Prashant Bhushan in the court.
The 40-year-old was detained in October 2015 for allegedly making a false complaint that beef was being served at the Kerala House canteen in New Delhi. In January 2016, he was also arrested for vandalising the Pakistan International Airlines’s Delhi office.
The group was in the news in June 2022 for “swords distribution” in Delhi’s Rajouri in support of Nupur Sharma after she was suspended by the BJP for hate speech and objectionable remarks on Prophet Mohammad.
The next year, they organised a “Mahapanchayat” at Jantar Mantar, but were stopped for alleged inflammatory speeches related to Haryana’s Nuh communal violence.
In May 2022, Gupta filed an intervention application in Supreme Court seeking to dismiss the petition challenging the videographic survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi. However, a bench led by former CJI DY Chandrachud rejected the application.
Similarly, in February 2023, the group’s petition seeking a ban on the BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots was dismissed.
The Delhi High Court, earlier this year, rejected Hindu Sena’s plea seeking the removal of then-Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after he was arrested in the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
The latest petition
Vishnu Gupta and his organisation have filed a case claiming the presence of a Lord Shiva temple within Ajmer’s Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah shrine and have sought a physical survey of the renowned Dargah.
In his petition, Gupta also demanded that the Ajmer Dargah be declared the ‘Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple’ and called for “Hindu worship to be reinstated” at the site, according to India Today.
He and his lawyer, Yogesh Siroja, backed the claim by referring to a 1910 book by Har Bilas Sarda, an Ajmer-based judge-turned-politician. Gupta alleged that Sarda “wrote about the presence of a Hindu temple beneath the Dargah.”
The court has now admitted their case and a hearing will be held on December 20.
It has also issued notices to the Dargah Committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey Department.
For those uninitiated, the petition comes on the heels of violence that broke out on November 24 during a court-ordered survey of a Sambhal mosque. The violence resulted in the death of four people and many others, including policemen, were injured.
Political debate
The court’s decision to hear a petition has sparked intense political debate.
Some BJP leaders have stated that it is fair to investigate the existence of temples under disputed structures, despite opposition claiming that it is only a government tactic to divert attention from important matters.
“A court has ordered a survey in Ajmer. What is the problem if court has ordered a survey?” said Union Minister Giriraj Singh, according to NDTV.
“This is a truth that when Mughals came to India, they demolished our temples. The Congress government has only done appeasement till now. If (Jawaharlal) Nehru would have stopped it in 1947 itself, there would have been no need to approach the court today,” he added.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal wrote on X, “Worrisome. The latest claim: Shiv Temple at Ajmer Dargah. Where are we taking this country? And why? For political dividends!”
Syed Naserudding Chishty, of the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council, criticised the rise in incidents where various groups are staking claim to mosques and dargahs.
“Today India is becoming a global power… Till when will we remain stuck in the temple and mosque controversy?” he said, according to ANI.
He further urged the intervention of the Central Government into the matter, adding that a law should be made and guidelines should be issued so that no one claims religious organisations such as these.
With inputs from agencies
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