On September 20, 1968, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray unfurled a saffron flag at the Durgadi Fort in Kalyan, long a site of contention between local Hindu and Muslim communities. This was a pivotal moment in Maharashtra’s political history, as it marked the Sena’s very first prominent foray into Hindu revivalism.
Now, more than half a century later, the repercussions of the agitation headed by the Shiv Sena have come to a head. On Tuesday, a Kalyan civil court ruled in favour of the Maharashtra government, rejecting the Muslim community’s claim to the disputed site at Durgadi Fort.
Here is a brief history of fort, and the controversy surrounding it.
A 16th century fort with a mosque, temple
The earliest references to the Durgadi Fort date to the 16th century when Kalyan, some 50 km northeast of present-day Mumbai, was a prominent trading port under the Bijapur-based Adil Shahi Sultanate.
The fort, spread out over roughly 70 acres, stands at the northeastern corner of the city, on an elevated ground next to the Ulhas river. According to historical documents compiled by the erstwhile British government, the fort has existed since 1570, with British accounts stating that it housed a “Musalman tomb, prayer place, and other buildings”.
A detailed description from the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Thana (1892) painted a vivid picture of the fort’s features:
“On the top of the mound, on the west crest which overhangs and is about 100 feet above the river, is the Prayer Wall or Idga, sixty-four feetlong, thirteen high, and seven thick, and near the east crest of the mound a mosque, twenty-two feet long, twenty-two high, and twenty broad. About thirty yards from the mosque is a round cut stone well of great depth, eleven feet in diameter, with a wall two feet seven inches thick at the top,” the gazetteer stated.
In 1760, the Marathas captured Kalyan, and subsequently made major modifications to the fort. Notably, they built a small wooden temple dedicated to the goddess Durgadevi inside the premises, and renamed the fort Durgadi Killa, a name that stands till date.
“In the citadel the Marathas built a small wooden temple of Durgadevi behind the mosque, and called the fort Durgadi Killa in honour of the goddess, a name which it still bears. They also changed the Jama mosque into Ramji’s temple,” the 1892 gazetteer said.
The British took control of Kalyan in 1818, and by the latter half of the 19th century, the Durgadevi temple had ceased to be a place of worship.
“At present there are, on the mound at the north-west corner of the fort, the prayer-place and the mosque-temple, which has ceased to be a place of worship, since 1876 when the image of the goddess was stolen,” according to the gazetteer.
Communal tension erupts in the 1960s
The modern-day controversy over the Durgadi Fort began in the mid-1960s, when the Muslim community, particularly the local Kokni Muslims, claimed they had been offering Eid prayers at the fort for centuries. Moreover, they claimed that local Muslim Koknis possessed the land in question.
Tensions escalated when local Hindus questioned Muslim control over the land, and demanded the right to pray there as well.
In 1966, the Maharashtra government sought to assert control over the land, saying that it was the actual owner of the property. It planned to hand a part of the land over to the Kalyan Municipal Council to build a park. This move was met with resistance from the Muslim community, particularly the Majlis-e-Mushawarat Masajid-O-Awqaf Kalyan, which had been overseeing the upkeep of the eidgah and mosque in the fort.
The government’s initial decision was reversed after public protests, and Muslims were allowed to continue offering prayers at the site. The Maharashtra government, while cancelling the order, stated that no claim of Muslims or Hindus over the land of the Durgadi Fort should be admitted, and that Muslims would have the right of offer Eid prayers twice a year at the walls of the eidgah, and use the open ground in front of it for the purpose of prayers.
In its petition to the court, the Muslim side claimed that in 1968, Hindus placed a red stone adorned with vermillion inside the mosque. Tensions escalated that same year when local Hindus decided to celebrate the Navratri festival within the fort premises, asserting that the structure, previously identified as a mosque, was in fact a temple dedicated to Goddess Durga. The situation became more charged when Bal Thackrey, still a nascent organisation at the time, visited the fort on September 20, and declared his intention to install an idol of the goddess in its premises.
The legal battle for control of the fort began in earnest in the early 1970s, when the Maharashtra government once again asserted ownership of the land. In February 1974, the state passed an order handing the land over to the Kalyan Municipal Corporation, a decision that was challenged by the Muslim side in 1976.
A five-decade long legal battle
The case dragged on for decades, with both political and religious groups continuing to stake their claim. The dispute became a rallying point for various local leaders, including Shiv Sena’s Anand Dighe, who made annual pilgrimages to the fort to assert Hindu control over the structure.
Despite the ongoing tensions, the Muslim community was allowed to continue offering Eid prayers twice a year at the fort after receiving clearance from the District Collector. At the same time, the Hindu side too was allowed to hold rituals at the fort during Navratri.
Muslims praying at the Eidgah at Durgadi Fort during Eid in 2022. An Eidgah is a space where Muslims gather to perform Eid prayers twice a year. (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)
After nearly five decades of legal wrangling, a Kalyan Civil Court recently ruled in favor of the Maharashtra government, affirming its ownership of the disputed land. The court rejected the claims made by the Majlis-e-Mushawarat Trust, stating that the suit was barred by the statute of limitations. The court noted that the Muslim community’s possession of the land had been interrupted in 1968, and since the legal petition was filed only in 1976 — nine years after the interruption — the suit was deemed to be invalid under the Limitation Act.
Despite this ruling, the Muslim side has vowed to challenge the decision in a higher court. Sharfuddin Karte, a member of the Majlis-e-Mushawarat Kalyan, argued that the case had not been decided on its merits but rather on a technicality regarding the statute of limitations.
“After close to five decades the court has ruled that our claim has been barred only because the petition was filed nine years after our possession was discontinued. As of now it does not seem to have gone on the merits and the evidence that we had presented to show our claim on the said property. We will challenge this in the higher courts,” Karte told The Indian Express.
On the other hand, Maharashtra government leader Sachin Kulkarni emphasised that the court had confirmed the state’s ownership of the land, and its right to use it as it deemed fit.
Notably, the court order has not gone into the historicity of the religious structures inside the fort, and has not passed any order yet denying any side the right to pray at the place.
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