Will smear black paint on Trupti Desai if she enters Hali Ali dargah: AIMIM leader

Bhumata Ranragini Brigade president Trupti Desai is all set to enter Mumbai's Haji Ali Dargah today.

Pic courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Days after a Shiv Sena leader threatened to "welcome with slippers" Trupti Desai if she dared to enter the tomb of the Haji Ali Dargah, an All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader on Thursday tried to intimidate the prominent woman activist.

Desai is all set to enter Mumbai's Haji Ali Dargah today.

Haji Rafat Hussain told news agency ANI: “If she tries to enter Haji Ali Dargah forcefully, we will smear black ink on her.”

After scoring victory for women's entry in the Shani Shingnapur Temple and Trimbakeshwar Temple, Bhumata Ranragini Brigade president Trupti Desai will today launch an agitation for access to women up to the tomb of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari at famed Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.

Desai and other activists have planned a protest at Haji Ali Junction in Mumbai today. The activists will enter the dargah till the area women are allowed.

The move is part of a demand by several Muslim women and groups who have been agitating for ending gender discrimination at places of worship in the state.

Desai joined with a new forum, "Haji Ali Sab Ke Liye - Haji Ali For All" in April.

The Haji Ali Dargah Trust has justified the prevailing customs on grounds that permitting women upto the tomb would be "anti-Islam" and also argued about immunity as it was a "minority trust".