Uddhav rekindles row over birthplace of Sai Baba; Shirdi calls for shutdown on Sunday

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 18

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has reignited an old row over the birthplace of Shirdi Sai Baba after he announced a grant of Rs 100 crore to develop the town of Pathiri in Parbhani district.

While a section of Sai Baba's devotees believe that the Sufi saint was born in Pathiri, this has been contested by the residents of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district. On Saturday, some trustees of the Saibaba Sansthan at Shirdi and locals announced that the pilgrimage town would observe a bandh on the issue on Sunday.

"All aartis and religious traditions at the Sai Baba shrine will continue," Bhausaheb Wakchure, a trustee of the sansthan said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Thackeray had told leaders from Pathri that the town too would be developed as a major religious tourism destination in Maharashtra. He also announced a grant of Rs 100 crore to develop infrastructure and construction of a boarding house in the town housing a Sai Baba temple.

Baba Jani Durrani, a Nationalist Congress Party leader from Pathri and trustee of Sri Sai Janmasthan Temple, said a plan to develop the town had been formulated during the tenure of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "While Shirdi has good infrastructural facilities like an airport, train and bus terminus, Pathri is poorly connected," Durrani said. He accused commercial and political interests from Shirdi for preventing the development of Pathri.

"We have enough evidence to prove that Sai Baba was born in Pathri," Durrani told mediapersons.

An action committee, comprising leaders and businessmen, wants that Pathri be recognised as the Sai Baba's original birthplace. With Thackeray's own Shiv Sena leaders in both towns divided on the issue, the Chief Minister has called a meeting of both groups to sort out the issue.