Activist Trupti Desai Enters Mumbai’s Haji Ali, But Not Inner Shrine

Mumbai: On Thursday, activist Trupti Desai led a group of women into the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, amidst tight security where she was denied permission to enter two weeks ago.

Desai, however, made no attempt to enter the inner sanctorum or core of the Dargah, where women are not allowed. “I prayed that women be allowed to enter the inner sanctum,” she said after her visit to one of the country’s foremost Muslim shrines.

 Trupti Desai, 31, is leading a campaign against the ban on women entering many religious places all over the country and her efforts led to the 400-year-old custom being ended at Maharashtra’s Shani Shingnapur temple in March this year.

Her last visit to the Haji Ali Dargah on April 28 had ended in an unruly scuffle with the police after locals objected to her attempt to enter the shrine. Desai had alleged that people tried to break into her car and beat her up and blamed the police for not handling the situation well. Desai had said that she would enter the Dargah even if she had to face arrest, after a local politician from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) threatened to smear her face with ink if she tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum.

Shiv Sena leader Haji Arafat Shaikh had said Desai would be hit with slippers if she tried to enter the Dargah. After an outpouring of anger, the Sena had dissociated itself from Shaikh’s statement.