Why Mumbai’s top police officers walk to dargahs with an offering every year

Every year, as Urs begins at Mahim Dargah, a scene plays out on the streets of Mumbai with a police band at the front, uniformed officers behind and senior police officers carrying a green chadar as they walk towards the 600-year-old shrine of Hazrat Makhdoom Ali Mahimi.

While it does appear to be a religious ritual performed by a secular force this tradition is rooted in a much older story that stretches back to colonial Bombay, the policing of massive public fairs, and the city’s distinctive relationship with its Sufi saints.

After Independence, while most government departments quietly shed the ceremonial and religious practices they had inherited from the British era a few exceptions endured, particularly at dargahs such as Mahim, and Dongri’s Rehman Shah Baba.

The legacy of Mahim D