TwoCircles.net: Bengaluru:
Wednesday, March 27, 2013.
The
application of Firoz M. Khan, a RTI activist and follower of Sufi saint Baba
Budan, seeking copies of old records pertaining to Bababudangiri shrine, under
RTI Act (2005) has been bizarrely been rejected on grounds of ‘national
security.’
On March 6,
2013 Firoz had filed the RTI application. In a reply to his query, the Public
Information Officer stated that the sought documents “cannot be provided as per
Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act”.
Section 8 (1)
of India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act states, that “there shall be no
obligation to give any citizen information, disclosure of which would
prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security,
strategic, scientific or economic interest of the state, relation with foreign
state or lead to incitement of an offence.”
Expressing
his astonishment, Firoz told the national daily, The Hindu, “The archival
documents are crucial for evidence in the court case which relates to the
religious nature of the shrine. I do not understand how the existing material
on the shrine can pose a threat of any kind.”
The shrine or
dargah of Baba Budan, also venerated as the seat of the seer Dattareya by
Hindus in the hills of Chikmagalur, Karnataka has raked up controversy for
almost two decades now. Once a peaceful pilgrimage centre for both Muslims and
Hindus, it has now turned into a bone of contention between the two religious
communities, thanks to the efforts of Hindutva forces, who wanted to and have
to a great extent turned it to the ‘Ayodhya of the south’.
In 2009, the
BJP ruled government of Karnataka, installed a deity in the Baba Budan hills
and performed puja, in clear violation of a Supreme Court stay order in an
ongoing lawsuit; they also vowed to build a temple at the spot.
Last month,
in continuation of its nefarious agenda the BJP government also denied the
existence of a dargah or mosque near the cave shrine, contrary to the
historical recorded evidence, which states otherwise.
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