Misplaced Shrine

In Navi Mumbai, atop a hill overlooking the soon-to-be-operational Navi Mumbai International Airport, an unauthorized dargah poses an unexpected security risk. It stands, perched on CIDCO-acquired land, with a clear view of the airport’s main runway and the highway leading to the JNPT port. This dargah, which began as a single stone in 2011, has since expanded into a structure covering an acre, complete with a barricade, housing several rooms, and offering those inside a vantage point over critical infrastructure.

It is tempting to frame this controversy as a conflict of faith, but that misses the mark. The issue is not religious belief but public safety. Encroachments — religious or otherwise — around key infrastructure sites like airports are threats in any country, and India cannot afford a compromised approach. The stakes are higher in a nation that houses one of the world’s largest populations and maintains ambitions as a global hub. Allowing religious encroachments to proliferate near such critical areas, whether a Hindu temple or a Muslim dargah, sets a perilous precedent, one in which religious tolerance erodes public trust in civic governance.

For over a decade, authorities, despite multiple complaints, have hesitated to enforce regulations against the dargah, citing fears of backlash or administrative inertia. Yet, any hesitation that views encroachment as too sensitive to address only fuels further challenges. CIDCO served notices and Hindu groups alerted authorities to the risk. Yet, action remains elusive. National security cannot be the collateral of inaction, especially when strategic locations and the movement of millions lie in potential jeopardy.

Such challenges are not unique to airports. Across India, unauthorized religious structures have sprouted on railway land, highways, and even sensitive defence sites, using faith as a shield against regulations. The risks posed by unauthorized structures near airports are not theoretical. Airports, hubs of commerce, connectivity, and national security, must be safeguarded as neutral, secular spaces free from any form of encroachment.

Security implications aside, there is an unsettling trend of “land gifting” to religious boards, including the Waqf Board, which turns what was originally public land into a permanent religious property. This tendency is problematic not solely for one group but as a matter of unchecked encroachment and resource allocation. The concern is not which group occupies the hill today, but the message that unchecked growth of any unauthorized structure sends to future generations.

The country’s founding principles enshrined secularism to ensure that no creed or culture would surpass the collective interest. Encroachment on public land has no exemption in religious guise. Thus, the path forward must be decisive, removing unauthorized structures with the same impartiality as it would any other security risk. Indeed, progress cannot afford to be obstructed by misplaced shrines on strategic land — a message that both secular authorities and civic society must enforce with resolve. Only by doing so can India build cities and infrastructure that serve the public interest over narrow or sectarian ones.