Did Maha CM Offer Saffron ‘Chadar’ at a Mosque? Here's the Full Context

The shrine is visited by people from the Hindu and Muslim community.

Fact-check: The video is being shared with a claim that Maharashtra Chief Minister offered a saffron chadar.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde performing a prayer at a place of worship is going viral on social media with a claim that he offered a saffron-coloured 'chadar' at a mosque.

The claim states that Shinde went a step ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by offering saffron 'chadar' instead of a green one.

An archive can be seen here. 

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: The video is from inside a shrine, which is at the Malang Gad Fort in the Thane district of Maharashtra and Shinde went there to offer prayers on 5 February.

• People from both Hindu and Muslim communities have been frequenting it for decades. While Muslims refer to the structure as Haji Maland Dargah, Hindus call it Machhindranath Temple.

• The shrine has been a disputed issue after late Shiv Sena leader Anant Dighe claimed that the shrine was not a dargah but a temple in 1986.

• The claim is misleading as this is not the first time that a saffron chadar was offered at the shrine. We found several videos that show people offering a saffron chadar at the shrine.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and that led us to a tweet shared by Shinde on 5 February.

• The tweet carried four photos of Shinde and it mentioned "Machhindranath Temple" as the location.

• It stated that Shinde visited the temple on the occasion of Malang Gad Yatra.

Shinde visited this temple in Kalyan on 5 February 2023.

Reports about Shinde's visit: Outlook, The Print and Marathi language daily, Lokstatta, reported about Shinde's visit to this place of worship in Thane.

• We also came across a report by news agency, Press Trust of India, published on 5 February.

• It stated that a fair was also organised on the occasion of Magh Poornima at the Malang Gad Fort near Kalyan in Thane district, where Shinde performed 'maha aarti'.

Shinde performed 'maha aarti' inside the temple. 

Shinde visited the temple for the first time after becoming the CM of Maharashtra.

Is the shrine a temple?: According to the information from state and central government websites, the shrine is dedicated to Baba Malang, a sufi saint who came to India in the 12th century AD.

• "Haji Malang, in true syncretic tradition, was one of the few dargahs where a Hindu vahivatdar (traditional priest from the Hindu Karandekar family) and a Muslim mutavalli (claiming to be distant kin of the saint), had both been officiating at religious rituals," reads the description of the dargah on Maharashtra government website.

• We found a report in Sabrang, published in 1999, that said that Shiv Sena leader from Thane and Shinde's political mentor Anant Dighe had stirred up a controversy and claimed that it was actually the site of a 700-year-old Machhindranath temple.

• Dighe took the then CM of the state Manohar Joshi and thousands of Shiv Sainiks to offer aarti on the occasion of Magh Purnima on 3 February 1996.

• The article further added that Dighe and his supporters also visited the shrine every year on the occasion of Eid.

What about the legal status?: A 1954 judgement by the Supreme Court refers to the shrine as a dargah.

• The judgment also noted that people from all faiths offered their prayers at the dargah.

What do locals say?: We spoke with a local from the area, who also dismissed the claim.

• "The dargah is visited by both Hindu and Muslim people. People from the Hindu community refer to it as a temple and offer aarti and a saffron chadar, while those from the Muslim community offer a green chadar," the local said.

• We found several videos and photos that show people offering saffron chadar at the shrine and conducting arti.

• We also found videos of people offering green chadar at the shrine.

Conclusion: Therefore, it is misleading to claim that Shinde offered a saffron 'chadar' for the first time. The shrine is being visited by both Hindus and Muslims for decades.

(Editor's Note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly referred to the shrine as a temple. However, we found that the people from both communities visit it and offer prayers according to their religion. The error is regretted.)

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