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Omar Rashid
While Muslims venerate Ghazi Mian as a saint, Hindus visit the shrine as they believe that praying there fulfills their wishes.
New Delhi: The centuries-old Jeth Mela (fair) held every year at the shrine of Saiyad Salar Masud Ghazi, a semi-legendary military figure from the 11th century, popularly believed to be a nephew of Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni, will not be held this year as the Uttar Pradesh government has denied it permission.
While authorities said that the decision to deny permission for the fair was taken from the point of view of law and order, especially the atmosphere in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, the stage had already been set when back in March, Chief Minister Yogi Adtiyanath in a veiled reference to Masud Ghazi had said that “glorification” of an “invader” amounted to “consolidating the foundation of treason.”
Police in several districts of UP had in March already outlawed fairs and festivals linked to Ghazi Mian, as he is popularly known. In Sambhal, police denied permission for the annual Neja Mela, saying that an event to honour an “invader,” “plunderer” and “murderer” would not be allowed to be held even if it had been traditionally organised year after year.
Now, the government has denied permission to the biggest and most popular annual fair linked to Ghazi Mian held at his shrine in Bahraich, a district near the Indo-Nepal border in central-east UP. Lakhs of people, both Hindus and Muslims, have traditionally attended it and the festival is regarded as an example of the region’s syncretic culture.
Sangh Parivar’s concerted efforts to project Ghazi Mian as a villainous character
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates have over the last few decades concertedly tried to superimpose the fable of Ghazi Mian into current politics and project him as a villainous character who was slayed by a backward caste Hindu warrior Maharaja Suheldev, iconised by the Rajbhar and Pasi communities today. The Hindutva version of communalising the Ghazi Mian story stands in contrast to the syncretic culture played out at his shrine.
While Muslims venerate Ghazi Mian as a saint, Hindus visit the shrine as they believe that praying there fulfills their wishes. Some communities also take out baraats (marriage processions) of Ghazi Mian as they believe he was slayed just before he was to get married. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried to use the story of Suheldev, a legendary Bhar chieftain, to pit Dalits and OBCs against Muslims. In the RSS imagination, Suheldev was an archetype Hindutva foot-soldier who halted the Islamisation of the region for 150 years.
While till now the BJP had taken many steps to glorify Suheldev to overshadow the legacy of Ghazi Mian, the cancellation of fairs and festivals linked to Ghazi Mian appears to be the start of a new trend to directly marginalise the shrine
Shalini Prabhakar, city magistrate Bahraich, said that the dargah managing committee of Ghazi Mian’s shrine had written to the district magistrate about this year’s Jeth Mela. The administration sought reports from various sources, including police and district officials.
“Their reports clearly stated that from the point of view of law and order and due to the emergence of various other circumstances, permission not be granted for the mela,” said Prabhakar.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Pahup Singh said that since lakhs of people attend the fair, the approval could not be granted from the point of view of “peace and security.”
A state of “protest and outrage” prevailed due to the Pahalgam terror attack, the protests against the Waqf Bill and the violence in Sambhal last year, said the officer.
Till the Neja Mela controversy broke out in March, the official website of the district of Bahraich, where Ghazi’s mausoleum is located, promoted the site as a syncretic place of tourist interest. It recorded the annual fair held in his memory as one of the major festivals celebrated in the area. The Bahraich district website also flaunted two photographs of the dargah dedicated to Ghazi, describing him as a “famous eleventh century Islamic saint and soldier.
“Hazrat Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud, a famous eleventh century Islamic saint and soldier. His Dargah is a place for reverence for Muslims and Hindus alike. It was built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq. It is believed that people taking bath in the water of this Dargah become free of all skin diseases. The annual festival (Urs) at the Dargah is attended by thousands of people coming from far-off places of the country (sic),” the website said.
However, these details seemed to have been removed from the website, last checked on May 4.
On March 20, Chief Minister Adityanath was in Bahraich where he hailed Suheldev for his “bravery and courage,” and for defeating Ghazi Mian, describing him as a “foreign invader.”
‘Independent India will not accept such a traitor’
In a veiled reference to the celebration of Ghazi Mian’s legacy, Adityanath said that the “glorification” of an “invader” meant “consolidating the foundation of treason.”
“Independent India will not accept such a traitor. Whoever insults the icons of Bharat and glorifies those invaders who had trampled upon Bharat’s culture and tradition, targeted the honour of our sisters and daughters and attacked our faith, this New India is not at all ready to accept it,” said Adityanath.
Yasar Shah, Samajwadi Party leader and former MLA from Bahraich, criticised the administration’s decision to deny permission to the Mela. “For centuries, the Dargah fair of Bahraich has been the identity of not only this city, but also of its people – irrespective of their religion or caste. This fair is an example of our unity, faith and shared heritage,” said Shah.
The former MLA accused the Adityanath government of “trying to erase this identity.
“The BJP leaders of the district are silent. Everyone knows what pressure they are under, but it is also true that they too have bowed their heads at that dargah at some time or the other, prayed, and shown their faith,” Shah said.
He also stressed that while the mela, a “symbol of social harmony,” had been taking place for eight hundred years, there had never been any law and order problems at the site.
“Does the state government accept that it is no longer in a position to provide security to the public and is the situation more or less the same in every district of the state? Does a government that cannot provide security to its citizens have any moral basis to remain in power?” asked Shah.
Source: The Wire