The controversy around the illegal encroachment on the fort of Vishalgadh is believed to have come close to a conclusion after the Maharashtra CM ordered the removal of the illegal properties on the fort on 15th July.
The Kolhapur district administration on the 15th of July evening began removing illegal encroachments from Vishalgadh Fort in Kolhapur, amidst heavy police presence. According to officials, the administration had demolished around 35 stores by that day evening.
The administration notably responded to protests organized by Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a former Rajya Sabha MP and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The former MP had organized a massive protest on 14th July after the state administration failed to take action against the illegal encroachments. The enraged protesters reached the foothills of the fort on Sunday, 14th July, and created a ruckus in the Gajapur area, allegedly vandalizing properties and a local Masjid. Several videos of the same have been going viral over the internet.
Earlier, similar protests were organized by Sakal Hindu Samaj on 7th July where hundreds of Hindu activists and Maratha loyalists reached the foothills of the fort and demanded action against illegal encroachment. However, it was after the massive protest and alleged violence on 14th July that the state CM responded and ordered the district administration to take down all the illegal encroachments, by both the Hindus and the Muslims.
Issue of illegal encroachment at Vishalgadh
Vishalgadh located in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra is the fort that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj reached after escaping from the trap of Bijapur’s Adilshahi army led by a General called Siddhi Masood who wanted to kill him. Maratha warriors Baji Prabhu and Phulaji Prabhu then fought a battle at Pawankhind to assist the king reach Vishalgadh safely on the 13th of July, 1660. Marking the 364th year of the battle, the Sakal Hindu Samaj and descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj decided to free the fort of illegal encroachment which demeans its history and insults the Hindu legacy of the fort.
It is believed that the population located on the fort of Vishalgadh, most of which is Muslim, has been involved in carrying out alleged illegal encroachments, construction, or expansion of the Masjid. The population there has also for years constructed illegal sheds, further expanding the businesses of chicken and cattle slaughters.
Following the alleged violence on 14th July, Sambhajiraje personally arrived at the location and declared that he would not leave until the encroachments were removed. He said there were 158 encroachments in total, just six of which were being litigated in court. “Why is no action being taken against the rest?” he inquired.
However, Sambhajiraje and his followers have time and again stated that the issue of illegal encroachments on Vishalgadh is not at all communal and that they are demanding the removal of encroachments by both, the Hindus and the Muslims living on the fort.
“We want to remove all encroachments, including those by Hindus and Muslims. I know what secularism is and nobody needs to teach me that,” Sambhajiraje said.
‘It’s not communal’, says Sakal Hindu Samaj
Mahesh Vibhute of the Sakal Hindu Samaj confirmed to OpIndia that the issue is not at all communal. “These people, from both the community illegally expanded their premises by building sheds. Today there are thousands of people living on the fort and a total of 156 properties are illegal. We just want this encroachment to be removed,” he had confirmed. The detailed report covered by OpIndia previously can be read here.
On the other hand, the opposition in the state has been calling out the alleged violence and allegedly siding by the encroachers. While the Mahayuti government, believed to be the genuine heir to Shivaji’s code of conduct, was quick to take action, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi was left with red faces since Sambhajiraje’s father, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, is the Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kolhapur.
While condemning the violence and urging action against the culprits, Shahu Maharaj blamed it on the administration and police, claiming they had failed to take the problem “seriously”. “Had the administration acted earlier on the direction to remove the encroachments, the violence could have been avoided,” claimed the elected official.
Alleged illegal expansion of Dargah on Vishalgadh
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has always been central to Maharashtra’s political discourse, with his life, historical events, and forts being discussed.
Encroachment at the Vishalgad Fort, which includes stores, hotels, and private dwellings, has been a long-standing issue. The most problematic constructions are those surrounding the Malik Rehan Dargah, which is about a kilometre from the fort dates back to the 14th century and is visited by people of all faiths. Previously, animal sacrifice was also performed in the dargah, but it has been discontinued following an order from the Bombay High Court.
The old Dargah on the fort known as the Sardar Malik Rehan Baba Dargah is one of the 12 religious structures officially mentioned in the survey report by the government. A report by the Archeological Survey State Department, obtained exclusively by OpIndia reveals that the fort was declared an archaeological site in the year 1999, and after that, a survey was conducted to include 12 religious structures out of which 11 are Hindu temples and 1 is this Dargah.
However, the area where the Dargah was located earlier was quite small which has now been expanded to more than 11,000 square feet. The Hindu community protestors stated that the expansion of the Masjid behind the Dragah was undertaken without the state’s permission and, hence illegal. Notably, the total area that has been encroached as per the government documents by the population reading on the fort is around 58,000 sq ft. The maximum encroachment has reportedly happened around the Malik Rehan Baba Dargah and the Masjid aligned.
Around the Dargah, several Muslim community people have constructed alleged illegal sheds selling religious products like Chunri (religious cloth) for Baba, essence sticks, flowers, and photographs. For any construction or expansion to take place on a heritage structure, severe permission from the Archeology department and the state is required, but as per the protesting individuals, the community people have failed to follow the rules and have been expanding their premises illegally for the last 10 years.
The Dargah remains well-maintained and well-looked after as compared to the other Hindu structures. The structure around the Dargah also seems to have been constructed, expanded, or renovated in the year 2015, but no Hindu structure to date unfortunately has obtained this level of attention on the fort.
Rohit Jangam (name changed) who works to reclaim the Hindu legacy of the fort exclusively talked to OpIndia and said, “Malik Rehan Baba was an Adilshahi invader and was killed by the brave Mavlas of Marathas in the 17th century. The previous governments sadly spent around Rs 10 lakhs on the beautification of the Dargah but the Hindu temples, Samadhi Sthals of Baji Prabhu and Phulaji Prabhu Deshpande who for Swarajya, the life of our beloved king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj remain ignored.”
Court battle over the removal of illegal structures
In December 2022, the state archaeology department issued orders asking persons from a minority community to demolish their illegal structures. The department had directed the persons to demolish their structures within 30 days of receipt of the orders.
The aggrieved individuals then approached the HC, challenging the demolition order, claiming that their structures were built before the fort was designated a protected monument in 1999. As a result, the relevant portions of the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites Remains Act of 1960 could not apply to them.
The Bombay High Court had then stayed the demolition order in February 2023. The division bench of Justice Gautam Patel and Justice Neela Gokhale, while hearing the petition filed by Ayub Kagadi and six others, was informed that the persons claimed to have small land parcels within Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur district for more than 30 to 60 years. While the land in the possession of one of them was regularised in 1983, proposals for regularisation of the structures were pending before the government.
The bench was also informed that the petitioners received notices from the joint director of the Department of Archaeology on December 13, 2022, under Section 21 (2) of the 1960 Act. The notification required the petitioners to remove their constructions within 30 days and said that if they failed to do so, the government would demolish them without notice and reclaim the costs from them.
However, the state on 15th July ordered the removal of the illegal structures on the fort.
Oppositions calling out the violence
The Mahayuti government of the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP stated in December last year that it had successfully removed encroachments at the fort after sanctioning Rs 1.17 crore for the purpose.
An official at the Kolhapur District Collector’s office reported that after a lot of locals who had previously lived in these constructions moved out due to the ban on animal sacrifice, these structures were taken over by miscreants. The officer stated that they had received numerous complaints about alcoholics misusing these sites.
Congress’ Shahu Maharaj, who got the ticket over Sambhajiraje in the Lok Sabha elections, said he stood firmly against any act of violence. While condemning the violence and urging action against the culprits, Shahu Maharaj blamed it on the administration and police, claiming they had failed to take the problem “seriously”. “Had the administration acted earlier on the direction to remove the encroachments, the violence could have been avoided,” claimed the elected official. “It is my responsibility to stand with those who face injustice,” he said, announcing that he would be visiting areas affected by the alleged violence.
Several of his colleagues in Congress have also come out against the violence. The party said that a delegation led by Naseem Khan is headed to Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla to demand harsh action in the incident. Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of the Opposition, said that such instances seemed “orchestrated” ahead of the Assembly elections.
AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel also condemned the alleged violence and said, “This is the new India where goons can conveniently destroy a masjid and police will remain a mute spectator. This was in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where the goons not only damaged a mosque but even beat up Muslim women and children by forcibly entering their homes. And yes, the MPs, who recently got elected with big help from Muslim voters, have all gone into hiding.”
He slammed the opposition leaders for not standing by the victims. Meanwhile, he said his party would be holding statewide protests on July 19th to condemn the violence at Vishalgad. “All district units of AIMIM have been asked to stage a protest in front of the district collector’s office to condemn the violence. I will be personally visiting Vishalgad in the next few days,” he was quoted as saying.
Illegal encroachment on forts, public land, and culturally valuable locations is a widespread problem throughout the country. However, each time authorities muster the resolve to address the problem and genuinely apply the law, it is seen that components of the leftist ecosystem tend to help the encroachers. Such considerations are virtually always considered by our system, and any hopes citizens have for prompt justice are lost in the legal morass.
The area surrounding the Dargah appears to be considerably developed in comparison to other Hindu-populated places. People visit the fort primarily for the Dargah, which features silver doors. The other properties where people reside however have less money, barely enough to survive.
People, especially those from the Hindu community visiting the fort need to know about the other Hindu structures there and learn about the sacrifices made by our Hindu warriors to save the life of our beloved Maratha King, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Any alleged illegal encroachment, both by Hindus and Muslims therefore should be removed.
