‘They plan to wipe us out’: Inside the systematic erasure of Gujarat’s centuries-Old Dargahs

Eight Muslim residents of Gujarat's Gir Somnath district have approached the Gujarat High Court, challenging the demolition of the historic Pir Ahmed Shah Dargah in Prabhas Patan and alleging violations of laws governing waqf properties, land acquisition and protected monuments.

The court heard the petitions on November 3 and 4.

Roshan Banu, a partially blind resident of Prabhas Patan, expressed deep distress over the demolition, saying it was part of an attempt to remove Muslims and everything associated with Islam from Gir Somnath.

"Another dargah under debris. They want to squeeze out Muslims and everything linked to Islam from Gir Somnath," she said.

Banu said she had lost her eyesight due to old age and was now grateful that she had not been able to witness the demolition.

Local Muslims who visit the shrine have alleged that a 14th-century Persian inscription associated with the dargah and an old gate were demolished without following due process. They also claimed that the site was being repurposed for Hindu devotees under the Somnath Corridor project, erasing the shrine's historical and religious significance.

Representing the petitioners, senior advocate Anand Yagnik argued that the historic religious site had been demolished without complying with legal procedures governing waqf properties, land acquisition and protected monuments.

Dispute over waqf property and protected heritage

The petitioners also challenged the district collector's interim appointment of a mutavalli (caretaker), who issued a no-objection certificate for transferring the property without consulting the dargah's trustees, who are part of a consolidated trust.

According to Yagnik, the mutavalli alone signed a resolution allowing the state government to acquire the property in exchange for compensation. The state Waqf Board immediately approved his application for the sale of the property.

"The entire process was in violation of the acquisition laws as well as the Waqf Act, which strongly prohibits sale of any waqf property," Yagnik told the court.

The petitioners further argued that the Persian inscription and the site had been protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under different laws since 1904.

Yagnik said the ancient structure was demolished without obtaining ASI permission and that local residents recovered the inscription from the rubble. He also told the court that the district collector had received a notice from the ASI over the unauthorised demolition.

The demolition of Pir Ahmed Shah Dargah is the latest in a series of demolitions of Islamic religious structures in Gir Somnath district.

In September 2024, a large police contingent accompanied bulldozers and excavators into Prabhas Patan, near the Somnath temple. By the end of the operation, nine Islamic religious structures and 47 mostly Muslim-owned houses in the Veraval area of Gir Somnath district had been demolished.

The administration described the operation as an anti-encroachment drive to clear government land, which it said covered approximately 102 acres. Residents, however, disputed the authorities' claims over the land and the legality of the demolitions.

The operation affected families who had lived in the area for generations and devotees who visited the shrines.

Several historic shrines, including Haji Mangrol Dargah, Pir Silar Shah Dargah, Garib Shah Dargah and Jafar Muzaffar Dargah, were demolished. Local residents told The Wire that Haji Mangrol Shah Dargah had been included in the revenue records of the erstwhile Junagadh state as early as 1924.

In a ground report published in 2025, The Wire documented the consequences of the demolitions for local Muslims, including the displacement of families and the loss of access to shrines that had been part of their religious lives.

Petitioners question circumstances surrounding demolition

The latest dispute over Pir Ahmed Shah Dargah began on August 19, 2026, when demolition work was carried out around 3am, according to a petition filed by Malang Ismail Husen and others.

The petitioners described the dargah as a centuries-old religious site containing a Persian stone inscription dating back to 1543 and linked to Sultan Ahmed Shah.

The petition detailed a series of events leading up to the demolition. Following the death of trustee Salimsha Dadasha in 2024, the petitioners alleged, the district administration pressured his son, Dadasha Salimsha, to seek a position in the trust and facilitate the transfer of the property to the state government for the Somnath Corridor project.

They further alleged that a meeting was held on August 14, 2026, and applications seeking permission to transfer the property were submitted without the consent of all relevant trustees and stakeholders.

According to the petition, the Gujarat State Waqf Board granted permission for the project on August 18, 2026, and the dargah was demolished in the early hours of the following day.

The petitioners alleged that the sub-divisional magistrate, mamlatdar (a taluka-level administrative officer) and local police were present during the operation. Members of the local community later recovered the historic inscription, while graves and other structures associated with the dargah were also desecrated, they said.

An additional affidavit filed by Gohel Basir Kasam on October 22, 2026, questioned the authority of those who purportedly consented to the transfer of the dargah property. It also referred to correspondence with the Gujarat state archaeology department.

Speaking to The Wire, Basir said the department, in a response dated September 8, 2026, had indicated that it had not received any documents from the district collector concerning the demolition of the dargah or the site where the inscription was located.

"The situation that has emerged concerning the historic Mazar of Pir Ahmadshah raises several serious questions. If this Mazar is a site of historical and religious significance, it is the government's responsibility to adhere to the laws and regulations governing its preservation. My question is: is it appropriate to damage historical heritage in the name of development? Have all due legal processes been followed in this matter?" Basir asked.

He said the petitioners did not want to make baseless allegations about the government's intentions but were demanding a transparent investigation, disclosure of relevant documents and accountability for the loss of the dargah.

"Our struggle is not against any specific government or religion. It is a fight for the protection of historical heritage, justice, and the rule of law," he said.

Basir also said he had faced legal action in connection with the matter, arguing that filing a petition was a constitutional right and that seeking justice through the courts should not be treated as an offence.

"We believe that every citizen has the right to raise concerns about the protection of historical and religious heritage. Our intention has always been to seek justice through lawful means," he said.

Muslim heritage in the Hindu pilgrimage landscape

The Somnath temple was not always the major pilgrimage and tourism destination it is today. Efforts to establish the area as a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site have gathered momentum over recent decades, while its political and administrative significance predates the Somnath Corridor project.

On August 14, 2012, Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, announced the creation of a separate district named Gir Somnath, to be carved out of Junagadh. The district formally came into existence a year later, on August 15, comprising the coastal talukas of Veraval, Sutrapada, Talala, Una and Kodinar.

The government presented the move as an administrative measure intended to bring public offices closer to residents of the coastal region. It also gave the Somnath temple and its surrounding territory a distinct administrative identity, with an overwhelmingly Hindu character.

In February 2017, the Gujarat government sought 262 crore rupees from the Union tourism ministry under the PRASAD scheme for infrastructure development at and around Somnath.

The first phase, estimated at 102 crore rupees, included proposals for parking facilities, water treatment, sewerage, solid waste management and other tourist infrastructure.

Yagnik, who represents the petitioners in the Pir Ahmed Shah Dargah case, believes the dispute is part of an effort to prevent dargahs from continuing to exist near the Somnath temple.

"They plan to wipe them out. I am Anand Yagnik, a Hindu. The Somnath temple is a temple of significance for me because I am a Shaivite. For years together, I've been regularly attending the temple. They say that the Somnath Corridor will help pilgrims to come to strengthen their faith. But my devotion to Somnath Bhagwan cannot be at the cost of the devotion of others," he told The Wire.

"I am very clear about that. They are using state instrumentalities to revive their [political] agenda and corporate houses are helping them," he said, adding that he saw the same alleged hidden agenda in the cases of Babri, Mathura and Somnath.

Yagnik said the ASI had repeatedly issued notices stating that structures could not be demolished without prior permission. He said he had two or three such notices.

He also accused the Gujarat Waqf Board of being aligned with the state government and failing to address the alleged dismantling and conversion of Islamic structures across the state.

Demolitions part of wider campaign across Gujarat

The demolitions in Gir Somnath are part of a wider campaign that the Gujarat government has publicly defended.

On February 21, 2024, then Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi told the Gujarat Assembly that the state government had demolished 108 Islamic shrines across Gujarat. He said the anti-encroachment drive had also reached Gir Somnath and several other districts.

Earlier, on March 28, 2023, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had defended demolitions in Bet Dwarka and Gandhvi, where many of the affected homes belonged to Muslim fishermen.

Patel said the government would not tolerate "illegal activity" along Gujarat's 1,600-km coastline and that the demolition drive would continue in the interest of security and public welfare.

These statements indicate that the demolitions along Gujarat's coastline were not merely isolated land-clearance operations. Senior political leaders have publicly presented them as part of the government's broader campaign.

Under the banner of development and anti-encroachment measures, Muslim homes and Islamic shrines have repeatedly been labelled encroachments before bulldozers were deployed to demolish mosques, mazaars and residential properties, raising concerns over the erasure and homogenisation of the region's diverse heritage and history in the BJP-ruled state.

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This article was originally published in The Wire. It is republished here under special arrangement and with stylistic changes.