"Will build Ganpati temple if illegal Dargah is erected": Raj Thackeray issues warning to BMC

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray made a shocking revelation on Wednesday of a purported `dargah coming up in the Arabian Sea off Mahim, a few metres away from the shore. Drawing the attention of the state government, Mumbai Police and civic administration, the MNS chief also served an ultimatum to them that unless it is demolished within a month, the MNS would go and erect a Ganpati temple at the same spot. Hinting at a potential security threat, Raj Thackeray demanded: "The Mahim police station is close by, the BMC officials keep moving around there... Yet since the past two years this `dargah` is blatantly coming up in the sea... Another `Haji Ali Dargah`... And there`s nobody to talk about it?"

The video was later shared by the Twitter handle of the MNS which said a 'new Haji Ali' is being prepared in the middle of the sea in broad daylight and yet the police and the municipality did not see it. The video shows an island-type small stretch near the coast with a few poles. It also captured afew people visiting the stretch wading through the seat water and offering their respect at what Raj Thackeray claimed as 'dargah'. “I want to ask the Constitution-abiding Muslims of the country: Do you condone this? I don't want to flex, but when needed I will have to do it,” Raj Thackeray said adding that the ‘illegal dargah’ is near the dargah of Makhdum Baba in Mahim.