Jaipur: The successor of Dargah Diwan Syed Naseeruddin Chishti has reacted strongly on the petition claiming Shiv temple in Dargah of Ajmer and termed the petition an act to gain cheap popularity. "Ajmer Dargah exists for more than 800 years and no such claims have been made until now. This is an act to gain cheap popularity. The matter is in the court so it will be answered in there," said Chishti in statement on Thursday.

Chishti said that the Dargah Khwaja Garib Nawaz Act was enacted in 1950. An Inquiry Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Allahabad High Court Judge Ghulam Hasan at that time. The report of this committee has been submitted to the Parliament. This report also contained the complete history regarding the construction of Dargah and there is no mention of any kind of temple in the Dargah in the report.

"Some people are doing such things just to gain cheap popularity, which is not good for the country and society. For how long will we remain embroiled in the temple-mosque dispute in the country," said Chishti.

Demanding a law to set aside the disputes before 1947, the successor of Dargah Diwan said that every day mosques and Dargahs are being claimed as temples. This increases the feeling of bitterness and distrust towards each other, which is not good for the society. We all should stand together against such people. Everyone has the right to go to court for justice. It is a legal battle, and we will take legal opinion on this.

Notably, the Civil Court of Ajmer has accepted the petition that claims of a Sankat Mochan Mahadev Temple in the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer and have issued notices to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Dargah Committee Ajmer and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) asking them to present their submission. The next hearing in the case will be on December 20th.