India: Communalism Karnataka: Crowd Enters 15^th Century Madrasa Shouting ’Jai Shri Ram,’ Performs Hindu Rituals

Source: https://thewire.in/communalism/karnataka-bidar-madrasa-jai-shri-ram-pooja

Communalism
Karnataka: Crowd Enters 15^th Century Madrasa Shouting ’Jai Shri Ram,’ Performs Hindu Rituals

Four people have been arrested, say police. Members of the Muslim community have alleged that the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa’s structure has been damaged.
Karnataka: Crowd Enters 15^th Century Madrasa Shouting ’Jai Shri Ram,’ Performs Hindu Rituals

A screenshot from a video appearing to show the puja taking place at the mosque. Photo: Twitter/@ve_nair

The Wire Staff

Communalism
16 hours ago

New Delhi: Four people have been arrested from a large crowd of Dussehra revellers who forcibly entered a 15^th-century madrasa, chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Hindu Dharam Jai’, and performed Hindu rituals at the premises in Karnataka’s Bidar.

Videos of the incident, which occurred on Thursday, October 6, were shared multiple times of social media. They show a big group shouting slogans amidst loud music and beating drums at the steps of the madrasa. The eventual rituals were done at a corner of the building, NDTV has reported.

The Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was designated a heritage site by the Archeological Survey of India and listed among monuments of national importance. Inaugurated in 1460, it was named after and founded by Mahmud Gawan, a Persian-origin prime minister in the Bahamani Sultanate of the Deccan.

The Mahmud Gawan Madrasa in Karnataka’s Bidar. Photo: The Wire

Members of the Muslim community had demanded action against those responsible, promising larger protests if no arrests are made by Friday, October 7.

Nine people have been booked and four of them arrested.

However, Additional Superintendent of Police, Mahesh Meghannava, told Indian Express that the charges against the nine pertain to trespassing into heritage structures illegally. This indicates that charges pertaining to causing communal unrest were not invoked against the accused.

The action was taken after a complaint was lodged by one Syed Mubhashir Ali at the Market police station.

Police also denied that the madrasa had sustained damages to its structure as a result of the Hindu revellers cracking open a coconut during the rituals – an allegation made by members of the Muslim community.

Deccan Herald has quoted an officer of the Archeological Survey of India, Aniruddha Desai, as having said that “devotees of Bhavani Mandir perform a symbolic puja every year on a platform near Gawan Madrasa, which once housed a peepal tree.”

Desai said that the cracking of a coconut is a “tradition.”