Dargah In Mumbai Coastal Area Demolished After Raj Thackeray's Complaint

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday demolished a dargah in Mumbai's Mahim coastal area after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray claimed it was being built on an encroached land. Visuals showed the dargah being razed by a bulldozer and the spot being cleared.

Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar said necessary action was initiated under the laws defined in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act.

Addressing a press conference, he said, "We respect all religions. We have taken this action keeping in mind the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act. There is nothing wrong with it. It is the CRZ act which prohibits the construction of anything in the sea. The remaining stones will be removed from the area and the spot will be cleaned."

He further stated that the Maharashtra government is walking on the path of Balasaheb Thackeray.

"Our government runs on the vision of Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb Thackeray used to raise these issues and now Raj Thackeray raised them. Due to Raj Thackeray, it came to our notice that the violation of CRZ is going on, so we took action so that no one in future repeats these actions," he said.

Earlier, Raj Thackeray had pointed out a dargah was under being built at the Mahim coast.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Wednesday said that action should be taken by state authorities and if the dargah is not demolished then MNS will build a Ganapati temple at the same spot.

"After seeing this, take immediate action, demolish this unauthorized construction. Otherwise, we will build a big Ganapati temple there," the official Twitter handle of MNS tweeted with a video.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)