Riots In India

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<b>Politics made dargah removal point of prestige</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Little else is known about the shrine, except that it has been attacked in all communal riots in Gujarat since 1969.

But Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), which is controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seemed to have been intent on removing it - and on Monday itself - to prove a point.

All along the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had been building up pressure to have it demolished, if only to show that the ongoing demolition drive against illegal structures was not targeting only Hindu shrines.

The local Muslims leaders’ decision to oppose the demolition on the ground that it was a “historical structure” — Muslims do generally not consider dargahs places of worship — only seemed to have increased the political pressure.
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Municipal commissioner Rohit Pathak’s statement on Monday evening mentioned the<b> demolition of 20 Hindu temples with people’s co-operation. What it did not mention was that the Muslim community, too, had co-operated during the removal of a smaller dargah in the Danteshwar area</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->