Heavy police security at disputed site in Chikkamagalur, Hindus kept away

CHIKKAMAGALUR: The police threw a security ring around a disputed site here which is claimed to be a dargah in Kote area as work was taken up on the structure on Monday. Roads in a 200-metre radius were barricaded and over 500 police personnel were deployed to prevent any untowards incident.

Construction work on the dargah was taken up on Monday.

While the Muslims claim that the disputed structure is a dargah, Hindus maintain that it is farm land. Since 1996, Muslims have been taking up part construction at the disputed site only during the month of December. The site is in a locality dominated by Ayyappa devotees who head to Sabarimala during December. There are about 1,200 houses belonging to Hindus and not even one Muslim family resides in the area, locals say.

The city municipal council president and Ayyappa devotees were prevented from going near the disputed site.

On Monday, the police did not even allow the city minicipal council president Kavitha Shivakumar near the disputed structure when she arrived for an inspecton. A funeral procession too was not allowed to pass through the barricaded roads and Ayyappa devotees were prevented from visiting a Ganapathi temple and circumambulating a peepal tree on the disputed ground.

The Hindus have been maintaining that the issue is in court and should be resolved legally. The police action on Monday prompted BJP activists to allege that the police and the government were appeasing Muslims. “There is not one Muslim family in the locality, then where is the question of a dargah?” questioned Kavitha Shivakumar.

Further, she said, “It is like the fence eating the crop. The district administration and the government are siding with the other side and humiliating Hindus. We conduct Ganapathi Utsav, Hanuman Jayanthi, Rama Jayanthi here. This dispute has been deliberately created. The police have closed a school and anganwadi centre in Kote area today”.

City municipal council member Madhuraj Urs said, “The have been taking up construction activity only in the month of December right from 1997. There are many Ayyappa devotees in Kote area and those involved in agriculture will be busy with farming activities. That is why they pick this time for the construction activity. They have been doing this to disturb communal harmony. They have tampered with documents and the police are not even telling us what work is going on. The government is misusing the machinery”.