During the course of investigation of the Gauri Lankesh case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Karnataka had recovered a diary from another accused Amol Kale. The diary had a ‘hit list’ of several rationalists, anti-Hindutva activists and scholars, thus revealing a larger conspiracy in place. This diary and the investigation of SIT Karnataka had cautioned the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) about the arms hauling in Nallasopara in Mumbai, and that is when Kalaskar was arrested. 

It is now also established that Kalaskar was involved in the plans of assassinations of Govind Pansare and Lankesh. As Newsclick reported, Virendra Tawade of the Sanatan Sanstha (SS) had brainwashed Kalaskar instructing him to kill “evil people.” Former Bombay High Court judge, Kolse Patil, going by the definition of the “evil people” by SS, has been a strong voice against the HIndu Rashtra project and on several occasions has blatantly attacked, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was also one of the key organisers of the Elgar Parishad, an event to commemorate the anniversary of Bhima-Koregaon battle, that focussed on anti-communalism and against Hindutva forces.

According to a report in Sabrangindia, Kole-Patil unearthed the Hindu terrorists plans in Nanded and Malegaon. He was accompanied with the rights activists Teesta Setalvad, Arvind Deshmukh and others. In one of his interviews with journalist-activist, Teesta Setalvad, he says, “the biggest threat to the country now is RSS, it’s ideology and Hindutva. I blatantly define Hindutva=Brahmanvad=Varna system= Desh thodnewale (one who break the nation. The reason why they are a threat is because there is no religion called Hindu in the country. Their aim is to divide people to ensure Brahminism remains established in the top.”

About Muslim terrorism, he says it is complete injustice to one community, because whenever you catch any Muslim youth without any proof you start calling him terrorist but in the case of Hindutva militants, BJP and other saffron fundamentalists openly support them despite proof of their involvement in the bomb blasts in Nanded, Malegaon and other places. Also, he says covering up the incidents points to the deeper conspiracy.

NDTV has reported Kolse-Patil as saying that, Sanjeev Panalekar a lawyer of SS was openly issuing threats to him and he in the past has had received hate and threat messages and calls. Since the past three months, the noted retired judge has been provided with security by the state. 

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Sharad Kalaskar, a Sanatan Sanstha (SS) sympathiser is now in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Maharashtra police that is investigating the assassination of communist leader Govind Pansare. Kalaskar is said to have destroyed the weapons used to shoot at Pansare and his wife. As Newsclick had reported earlier, Kalaskar has confided in the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) that Sanjeev Punalekar – the lawyer of Sanatan Sanstha (SS) – had called him to his office in June-July 2018. The lawyer is said to have asked Kalaskar to destroy the gun he used to allegedly murder Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. Punalekar and his assistant Vikram Bhave have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 25, 2019 related to the case of Dabholkar.

Kalaskar was earlier arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in the infamous Nallsopara explosives hoarding case. An officer from the SIT probing the Pansare case told The Indian Express: “Kalaskar was taken into our custody from Mumbai, in the early hours of Tuesday and produced before the court in Kolhapur in the afternoon. The court has remanded him to our custody till June 18. He is the seventh person to be arrested and ninth person to have been named as accused in the case till now.” Kalaskar along with Sachin Andure allegedly assassinated, rationalist Dabholkar on August 30, 2013, according to the CBI that is investigating the case.

The investigations in both Pansare’s and Dabholkar’s cases have been very lethargic. In November 2018, the Mumbai High Court had questioned the CBI and the Maharashtra SIT for delaying the investigation into the murders of activists Dabholkar and Pansare. The investigative agency has been severely criticised by civil society groups both in Maharashtra and across the country for being extremely slow in its investigation. The High Court is now monitoring both the cases.

Investigation into Pansare’s case so far
One must note that there has been no real progress in the case. Pansare was attacked by two unidentified gunmen in Kolhapur, on February 16, 2015. He died on February 20. He was a member of the Communist Party of India and a supporter of Dabholkar’s movement. He was a vehement critic of Hindutva organisations. An SIT had implicated Virendra Tawde, Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar – suspects in the Dabholkar murder case – in the Pansare case as well, in 2016. Here too, Tawade was named as a key conspirator, and Akolkar and Pawar were suspected of firing at Pansare. However Tawade was granted bail by the Kolhapur court in 2018; and both Akolkar and Pawar have been absconding since the Margao blast in 2009.

In its 400-page-long chargesheet, the SIT also had named Amol Kale, Vasudev Suryawanshi, Bharat Kurne and Amit Digwekar. However, both Kale and Digwekar are named in other cases too. Kale who was taken into custody by the Karnataka SIT in the case of  Lankesh is now known to be involved in planning all the four — Dabholkar, Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Lankesh — assassination and also recruiting people to execute the plan.

When Parashuram Waghmore, who was arrested on June 12, 2018, confessed to have shot at Lankesh to the SIT, a larger conspiracy had come to light. An unnamed SIT official had mentioned the existence of a gang of hardline Hindutva recruits functioning in five states: Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. The same official is reported to have said that this “unnamed organisation/gang” comprises at least 60 people and has “recruited people from hardline Hindutva organisations like Maharashtra-based SS and HJS.” As investigations into these cases continued, it was in fact established that all those arrested were involved in all the four cases and were also members of SS and HJS.

It is the same set of men, being named in all the cases by three different investigative agencies but the shooters are different in each of the cases. However, the shooter in the case of  Pansare is still not been named. It is also important to note that, the arrests made so far do not go higher up the ranks of the hardline Hindutva organisations. Punalekar is the highest the investigative agencies have been able to reach. Why is this the case? We now know who are all the men involved in these assassinations, the reason and their affiliations. The question of who is the mastermind behind these assassinations, remains unanswered.
 
Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Belagavi district magistrate court has permitted the Belagavi police to reopen investigations into the petrol bomb attack on Prakash Theatre that was screening Bollywood film Padmaavat. According to The Indian Express report, the move follows the ongoing investigations by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

The SIT investigations had revealed a conspiracy by a radical Hindu group to kill the rationalists and “anti-Hindutva” activists, and the same investigation has also uncovered that the same group was behind all the attacks on theatre screenings of the movie Padmaavat in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

On January 25, 2018, two unidentified persons had hurled two petrol bombs at the theatre, causing panic and cancellation of the shows. The Indian Express has reported that Amol Kale, the main accused in the Gauri Lankesh case, had also engineered the plan to attack theatres. Kale is former convenor of the Hindu terrorist outfit Sanatan Sanstha (SS). The SIT had recovered a diary from Kale which had uncovered a conspiracy to kill various rationalists and plans to attack theatres. According to this report, Kale had noted, “Throw stones at the entrance. Use petrol bomb on the vehicles. Use crackers and rods at the ticket counter. Make fake calls, and throw pamphlet. Theatre audience and producer will have loss,’’ ahead of the attacks.

Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanva Gondhalekar were earlier arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly hoarding explosives and plotting terrorism activities. They also are linked to the murder of Narendra Dabholkar and Lankesh. Kalaskar is a member of SS, while Gondhalekar is a member of SS as well as of Shivpratishthan Hindustan. The ATS had told the Pune sessions court that the information decoded from Kalaskar’s computer brought to the light the fact that they were planning to bomb the venue of the Sunburn Festival in Pune and screenings of movie Padmavat at cinema houses in Belgaum and in Kalyan, reported allaboutbelgaum.com.

Sanatan Sanstha and Bombs
For the SS, bombs, explosives and other weapons are a necessity to establish what they call a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). It is a necessity because one of the ways according to Jayant Balaji Athavale – founder of the SS – to establish Hindu Rashtra, one has to kill those who oppose the Hindu Rashtra project. This is not the first time that the SS or its associates are named in violent attacks in the name of Hindutva.

The activists of the SS have been arrested in several bomb blast cases in the past. The organisation was also accused, and two of its supporters were given 10-year imprisonment for bomb blasts in the Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium in Thane on June 4, 2008. This was apparently done to protest against a Marathi play, Amhi Pachpute, which they had claimed, showed Hindu gods in a poor light. Those who were arrested are currently out on the bail.

The Goa police arrested six SS members involved in a bomb blast in Madgaon, Goa, in October 2009. According to the police, two SS supporters, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, were allegedly carrying a bomb in their scooter, to plant it near the Narkasur effigy competition in Madgaon. The duo died as the bomb went off prematurely.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had taken over the investigations, has alleged that an SS member, who was an engineering student, played a key role in preparing the improvised explosive devices (IED) and carrying detonators and timer devices for the blast. However, all six were acquitted, and some of the SS members still remain absconding. All of these attacks were in the name of “protecting” the Hindu religion.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

On 24 January 2019 Divya (name changed), a girl from Lingadahalli of Bagewadi taluk and Vijayapura district was allegedly gang-raped and killed. Divya belonged to a Dalit family in the village and her mother was a devadasi. She was attacked by unidentified men while the elders were out at work and her body was hung from the thatched roof of her hut to appear like a suicide. The photographs of the crime sight, however, show her feet flat on the floor. Speaking to Newsclick, Huchangi Prasad, a Kannada writer and a Dalit rights activist from Davangere, said that these findings show her death as a murder. He also noted that the local police was refusing to file an FIR. The Dalit organisations in the region are protesting to get the case registered.

Prasad said, “the fact that the police is refusing to file an FIR raises various questions about the case and the media which is otherwise always ready to “break” news, but has now turned blind to the case.” In the email to Newsclick, which brought the case to our notice, the writer-activist wrote, “Dearest, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, I do not think Divya, who was like my sister, would die the way she did if the Constitution written by you was being followed.” As he rightly observes, such a case, happening just a few days before the 70th Republic Day bears testimony to discriminatory and violent practices like devadasi system that is still in practice.

According to Grace Nirmala Mallela, “there are around one million devadasis in India; about 90% of them belong to the Dalit communities and lower segments of the backward classes. While talking about devadasis, the story of their “eventual decline” in society is reiterated. However, it is important to note that it is not as black and white as it seems. Why are women of a specific caste and class dedicated to gods? – This has been widely discussed question for a long time now. However, the larger question, as Prasad points out, is: In these times of women empowerment of the governments declaring “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” what is the future of the betis of devadasis?

Artists and Sex Workers
The present-day devadasi system is a continuation of the custom of dedicating girls to the life of a devadasi by the lower castes. In her article, “The Devadasi, Dharma and the State”, historian Janaki Nair, writes that the devadasis were and are different from Basavis. She refers to the work of Ananthakrishna Iyer’s on Mysore Tribes and Castes in the early 1930s, to note that, “The bedars, dombars, holeyas, madigas, kilakkyatas and voddas often dedicated their girls as basavis at the local temples.” This practice was prominent among the families with no sons and those who were struggling to meet their daily needs.

Although the dedication of girls below 18 as basavis was made an offence under Section 372 of the Indian Penal Code, the law was not absolutely against it. One of the reasons for this negligence as Nair points out could be because “the basavi’s duties within the temple, however, were only nominal.” In Iyer’s words “they did not prostitute themselves promiscuously for hire as the devadasis”. Thus their “links with the temple institution were far more tenuous than those of the devadasis,” whose performances remained central to the temple rituals until the last decade of the 19th century.

It is often said that the Devadasi were associated with the artistic performances and offerings to the divine in the temple. Yet Nair argues, “there are no known direct references to dancing in the temple in the oldest books of dance theory, the Natyashastra and the Abhinaya Darpana.” Interestingly, she continues, “Inscriptional evidence from medieval Karnataka is more revealing. This was first mentioned in the 11th-century collection of stories, the Kathasaritsagara. The available historical records and evidence reveal that it was only in the 11th century that the devadasis became the artists of the temple and the royal court.

Before the 11th century, when temple women were assigned specific duties, the word “sule” (meaning prostitute) only existed in inscriptions. It was only in the 11th century, when the temple as an institution was expanding, that the word “patra” (meaning singing/dancing girl) was gradually attached to them. The word “devadasi” itself is conspicuous by its absence in this period (Though it was still present in the inscriptions of neighbouring regions as well as in the ‘vachana’ literature of the Virashaivas). By the 12th century, when the temple as an institution had expanded considerably not only in size but in the complexity of rituals performed, specific duties were assigned to temple women. Indeed, the temple complex increasingly came to resemble the king’s court, and the devadasi’s relation to the deity approximated the courtesan’s relation to the king.”

Thus, both arguments, one claiming that the devadasis enjoyed a status of importance, and the other, that they were sex workers, have an element of truth in them. First, the Devadasis received grants from the temples and the kings, thus owning wealth. However, Nair cautions us against such oversimplification, “We must not exaggerate the power enjoyed by devadasis, who despite their relative autonomy nevertheless remained dependent on that triad of men within the political economy of the temple, the priest, guru and patron. Yet, since her sexual services were embedded within the wider cultural sphere of symbolic and material exchanges in the temple, the devadasi enjoyed a position quite distinct from those of proletarianised sex workers.” The genealogy of the present-day form of the Devadasi system draws back to not the wealthy and powerful artistic authorities but to the Basavis of the lower castes.

The demand for the abolition of the devadasi system in both Madras and Mysore presidencies has remained active since 1869. The torch bearers of this demand were the upper caste Hindu men, for whom, a devadasi represented immoral practices in the temples.  According to Janaki Nair, this could be because by then the devadasis had grown into wealthy and powerful women and the upper caste male sensibilities refused to be economically and socially subordinate to these lower caste women. Whatever the reason for the demand, in 1909 the Mysore government passed an order to completely abolish the system.

The Betis of Devadasis
As explained earlier, the Devadasis who were part of the temple rituals declined with the decline of the power and role of the temple complexes. However, the dedication of Basavis continued. Even to this day, on a particular full moon day called Bharat Hunnime, thousands of girls are dedicated to gods and goddesses in various places in Karnataka. The Karnataka Devadasis (Prohibition of Dedication) Act had come into effect in 1982 abolishing the devadasi system. The Act, however, criminalised the devadasis. Instead of criminalising the practice of dedicating a five-six-year-old girl to the temple, the Act criminalised the girls for being dedicated. This shows the hold that the upper and dominant castes, pujaris, pandits and religious heads have on the state.

On 12 February 2016 according to a report in The Hindu, a Supreme Court bench of Justices F.M.I. Kalifulla and S.A. Bobde directed all States and Union Territories, especially Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, to strictly enforce the Centre’s order to check “undesired and unhealthy” practice of forcing young girls into becoming devadasis. Irrespective of the legislation in place, the system continues with the patronage of landowning classes, upper and, dominant castes and religious leaders. As Huchangi Prasad observes, “devadasi system is an indication of the upper caste Hindu society’s refusal to retract from Manu’s laws meant to oppress women.”

In the recently concluded conference, the devadasis reiterated their 12-point charter of demands which includes effective abolition of the devadasi system in the state and a compensation of Rs. 5000 per month as pension to all devadasi women. So far, the women have launched many agitations and protests in the state. After the mass dharna in Bengaluru on June 12, 2007, the then state government was forced to provide pensions and social security measures. However, the pension amount was a meagre Rs. 1,500 per month.

The devadasis are now demanding a survey to secure social benefits for the children of devadasis. At present, women who are 45 years old and above get the pension. They are demanding that the age limit should be brought to 24-25. Another major demand is that the children of the devadasis should get inheritance rights over the property of their biological father.

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Yogesh S is part of the editorial collective of the Indian Writers’ Forum.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Both the TG Bill and the trafficking Bill reflect the moral crusade of the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The former goes on to say that those who have not had gone through Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) can only identify as transgender, and not as male or female, and the identification as transgender depends on the scrutiny and certification by a District Screening Committee; those seeking to identify as male or female need to have had an SRS. In the case of sex work, the latter denies sex work from being considered work. As Sandhya Rao and Cath Sluggett write, laws like these snatch away the rights of sex workers by “reiterating the deep rooted belief that human rights exist only when one lives in conditions of socially accepted morality”.

The SRS that the TG Bill talks about is a risky and an expensive medical procedure, one should note. Thanks to the public health system in place in the country, even the willful cannot afford to go through the procedure. The Trafficking Bill not only equates sex work to trafficking, but also talks about sexual trafficking of only women.

Thus, the Bills that are supposedly in the interest of the oppressed communities that they address in them, set new moral definitions and standards for those communities. Most of the transgender persons in the country have to beg and do sex work for livelihood. The trafficking Bill adds on to the existing laws that are used against the community. The transgender community across the country is coming together to tell the government how far its policies are from the reality. As Bittu K, an activist notes, the police, judiciary and even hospitals are the sites of verbal, physical and emotional harassment for the community.

As Coalition for an Inclusive Approach on the Trafficking Bill (CIATB) remarks, the Bill does not adopt measures to encourage victims to approach law enforcement when violated. The Bill is focused solely on a surveillance mechanism that could be misused to target adults whose work is deemed immoral by the State.

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) minister had introduced the trafficking Bill in Lok Sabha in May 2016, arguing that there was a need of a comprehensive law to address all the aspects of trafficking. However as Tripti Tandon, a lawyer from Lawyer’s Collective noted, “A “comprehensive law” was expected to harmonise different approaches and integrate existing laws into one. The Anti-Trafficking Bill does not do that. All it does is add yet another legislation to the already fragmented landscape of laws on human trafficking, further complicating the legal framework and its enforcement.”

Section 370 and 370 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) define trafficking, and prohibit all forms of trafficking. It also expands the purview of what counts as exploitation, and says, “Any act of physical exploitation, sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery and servitude.” According this Section, Trafficking for any purpose – whether begging, domestic work, farm or factory work – is part of section 370, IPC, which lays down a minimum punishment of seven years of imprisonment, which may extend to 10 years and fine.

The current Bill however, creates a new category of “aggravated forms of trafficking”, which carrries a minimum sentence of 10 years, which may extend to life imprisonment. Some of the aggravated forms of trafficking introduced in the Bill are “trafficking for the purposes of forced labour, begging, marriage and child-bearing.” So what the bill does is, it just increases the punishment, and shows no interest in dealing with the causes of and existing powerful networks of traffickers.

As CIATB argued, the aspiration to move and access better living conditions, poverty, lack of equal opportunity and skewed development policies force persons to move in an unsafe manner, and accept work in a criminalised environment. For instance, in sex work or as undocumented workers abroad. The Bill ignores the problems associated with unequal growth, skewed development and inequity, including – aspirations to migrate for better livelihood.

In case of sex work, the Bill talks about sexual trafficking of women, and also proposes a rescue and rehabilitate model of measure to deal with such trafficking. “Women” in the Bill is a heteronormative term. Since, as mentioned earlier, the TG Bill refuses to consider transgender person as a man or a woman, one wonders what the Trafficking Bill has got to say about the exploitation of transgender Persons. The answer to this is, it criminalises them. Following is a case from Karnataka which shows the dire need of a law that does not paint the transgender community as a criminal one, but the one that ensures that their constitutional rights aren’t harmed.

“Operation Anandi”
TV9, a Kannada TV channel, had aired a show called ‘Operation Anandi’ on the September 25, 2016 from 10 am to 4 pm. It revolved around a 18-year-old boy named Rajesh who was abducted by Mangalmukhis (a transgender community from Karnataka), was and forcibly castrated, and hence turned into a Mangalmukhi against his wish. The show carried visuals of all the accused, captured on a ‘secret camera’ by the TV9 reporters along with the recreation of the castration ceremony. What followed this show was what the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 has in store for the community.

The channel called this show a ‘sting operation’, and a story more dangerous than that of the underworld of the city. Underworld refers to illegality and crime in the city. Gangs, sex workers (considered to be illegal), human trafficking, smuggling, robbery, kidnappers, beggars, etc. constitute this world, hidden under the world of judiciary, police, law and the state. Hence, the “underworld”— a world of illegality and lawlessness — exists as a parallel to the legal and lawful world. ‘Operation Anandi’ is a story of Hijras, their rituals, practices and way of life. By calling it a story more dangerous than that of the underworld, the show portrayed transgenders as not only belonging to the criminal class, but as the organised criminals.

There has always been a never-fulfilled curiosity regarding the functioning of the underworld. ‘Operation Anandi’, the anchor announces, is one of such missions that TV9 undertook to expose an “underworld” which was “not rowdism or international smuggling, but something straight from narka (hell)”. This “underworld”, the anchor proceeds to explain, is special and different as people getting into this world never come back because it is “disgusting and inhuman”. While the anchor calls this “sting operation”  a promise to expose this “underworld”, he asks the audience not to judge the entire community, as there are both good and bad people in the community. Such a plea is mere tokenism because the transgender community, for the anchor, the director, and the channel, is an “underworld” nonetheless, although with both good and bad crime.

The transgender persons who were in the recorded video were all arrested and tortured and then released. These arrests were protested widely across the state, however, such arrests of transgender persons is an everyday affair. The trafficking Bill in question here, if passed in Rajya Sabha, would allow such arrests of transgender persons for aggravated begging and sex work, and further would make them vulnerable to the violence. Can such a law be expected from a government which is bound to an ideology that holds morality over constitutional rights? 

First published in Newsclick.
 

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The current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power with the promises of development and Achche din (good days). The recent Kisan (farmers’) March in Delhi – in which lakhs of farmers from across the country protested against the growing agrarian crisis under this government, the protests by the youth across the country asking for the jobs that the party had promised before the election, the protests by the workers, the peasants and the teachers against economic policies of the government bear a testimony of the failure of this government. As we note the failure of this government in delivering what they had promised – development – it is time to ask what is it that they have done during their rule of five years? The simplest and surest answer to this question is: fuel the communal hatred and violence.

According to the data furnished by the Home Ministry itself, there has been a 28 per cent increase in the instances of communal violence between 2014 and 2017. In 2015, 751 incidents of hate crime were reported. Various reports by the media show that ever since PM Narendra Modi formed his government, there has been a sharp increase in the religious hate crimes in the country. According to the data put together by Hate Crime Watch, 274 incidents of hate crimes were reported between 2009 and 2018, and 59 per cent of the victims in these incidents were Muslims, while 57 per cent of the perpetrators were Hindus. Twenty-eight per cent of these incidents were in the name of cow protection, and 90 per cent of these religious hate crimes since 2009 have occurred after Modi led the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014.

As social activist Harsh Mander writes, this data “compellingly points to the conclusion that an environment has been created under Modi’s watch in which people feel safe, enabled, even encouraged to act out their hate and attack religious minorities”. According to a report published by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), in April 2018, of the total MPs and MLAs, 58 MPs and MLAs had declared cases of hate speech against themselves, while 27 of them belonged to the BJP. These hate speeches, Mander writes, create a “permissive environment for hate attacks”. Modi’s signature response to both the hate speeches by his party members and the hate crimes – barring a few exceptions – has been silence. This silence of the prime minister and his party has normalised the hate for minority identities.

The reason behind the silence of Modi is the ideology and politics of the Hindu Right wing that he and his party have sworn to follow and protect. The ideology of the Hindu Right Wing stands on the “myth of a continuous thousand-year old struggle of Hindus against Muslims as the structuring principle of Indian history”. As Tapan Basu et.al have observed, “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) dictate the politics of the Hindu Right, they define the limits within which the BJP can Maneuver. […] The BJP claims to function within a constitutional, democratic, legal framework; but the activities of the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal (BD) mock this framework. The politics of the Hindu Right derives its dynamic from the complex relationship between these seemingly opposing tendencies: from their complementarity and contradiction.”

The data shows that the VHP, BD and many such splinters of the Hindu Right have assumed a sense of impunity since the BJP formed its government. The RSS is not only seen everywhere, its members and leaders have been involved in the policy-making as well. One wonders if the “development” that BJP had tom-tommed before the elections was of the politics and ideology of Hindutva?

Development of Hindutva
Demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on the December 6, 1992 showed that the Hindu Right wing organisations in the country were not just fringe elements; they had grown into powerful organisations. The demolition was not a spontaneous vandalism, but was a consequence of the lessons, trainings, and politics of the Hindutva. As Tapan Basu et.al noted, “Behind the action lies a long history of Hindutva politics which celebrates aggression and violence, declares war against other communities, and scorns at legal and democratic norms.” If Ram was then chosen to be a hero/leader to be fought for, now it is a cow. Back then, they were not in power, but the tables have turned now. Senior political leader Prakash Karat, speaking at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on the occasion of 26th anniversary of this horrific event, had noted that the coming to power of BJP in 2014 was a logical culmination of the Hindu Right wing.

Looking back at the five years of this government, it indeed seems like a logical culmination of the Hindu Right. The Sangh Parivar (RSS and its affiliates) got legitimised after the BJP formed its government. If the increase in hate crimes against minorities in the country is one of the blatant indicators of this, seeping of RSS into power structures can been seen in the appointments made to the positions of power by the central government.

For example, as Achin Vinayak writes, the BJP puts Sangh loyalists into positions of control and authority in each and every case. “If the BJP is in power, appointments favourable for the party are made by the central or state governments. If they are not in power in a state, this cannot be done directly. The BJP, then, uses governmental pressure to ensure this. Coming under the scope of the Sangh, then, are heads and senior personnel of central and state universities and research institutions; bodies empowered to determine the content of textbooks for government schools at central and state levels; cultural academies of various kinds; archival centres; training institutes, from the select and prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), to those institutes producing film and television graduates; censorship boards; and so on.” Such appointments were seen in premier institutes like, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and JNU.

Since 2014, the RSS is seen openly playing a role at the policy-making level. RSS Joint General Secretary Krishna Gopal chaired a meeting on May 28, 2018, in New Delhi, to discuss the government programmes and policies. The BJP Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, General Secretary Ram Madhav and Secretary Ram Lal; Union ministers Rajyavardhan Rathore (Information and Broadcasting), JP Nadda (Health), Maneka Gandhi (Women and Child Development), Mahesh Sharma (Culture), Prakash Javadekar (Human Resource Development) and Thawarchand Gehlot (Social Justice) represented the government in the meeting, and met the representatives of the various departments of the RSS. This clearly demonstrates the relationship that the ruling BJP government has with the Hindu fundamentalist body, and shows how the party has been a puppet in the hands of the RSS.

Writing about the achievements of the RSS and BJP-led sarkar at the Centre, Purushottam Agarwal, notes, “A leader, even a celebrity, has supporters (and blind supporters too), but not everyone is so fortunate to have such supporters (“Bhakts”) who are ready to confront aggressively not only the opponents of their “hero” but even their own family members too.”

Despite the failure of the PM in fulfilling his promises in 2014, devastating economic policies like GST and demonetisation, the number of “bhakts (devotees)” is seen to be constantly increasing. How is it that a prime minister and a government is spared of their false promises? It is not because people are in awe of the performance of the government, it is because of what is being circulated as information. It is the hatred that is being circulated, and it has become easy to do so with the political face of the ideology of hatred in power.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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The Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the political assassination of Gauri Lankesh has said that the leadership of Hindu rightwing outfit Sanatan Sanstha (SS) was aware of the activities of its “footsoldiers” in the killing of some rationalists. An SIT official speaking to The New Indian Express has said, “The leadership of Goa-headquartered Sanatan Sanstha was aware of the activities of its footsoldiers and lower rung cadre. We cannot subscribe to this statement that the leadership was not aware of it. They definitely knew about these plots.” Chetan Rajhans, the spokesperson of SS, in a press conference last week had denied all the allegations, and had claimed that the arrested were not its members. As the SIT official noted, all those who are arrested so far are linked to SS or its affiliates. Thus, Rajhans’ claims are illogical and as a senior journalist Urmilesh points out, is a tactic of the right wing to escape the crisis situation, by distancing themselves from the crisis.

On the one hand, the role of SS and its affiliates in the attacks on rationalists is coming to light, and on the other hand, the investigations in all the four cases is getting complicated. The political assassinations of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and SIT of Maharashtra respectively. Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Karnataka and Karnataka SIT are investigating the cases of M M Kalburgi and Lankesh respectively. The four cases are being handled by three different investigative agencies in two different states.

Except for the investigation by the Karnataka SIT in the case of Lankesh, none of the other investigations have yielded any result. The investigations in Dabholkar’s case, the CBI had claimed, had reached a deadlock. However following the investigations of the SIT in the Lankesh’s case and fresh arrests made by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the case of possession of explosives, proved the CBI wrong. The arrests made in the case of Lankesh and the information shared by the SIT has given a new direction to the investigative agencies in Maharashtra. Sachin Andure, along with Sharad Kalaskar, both arrested by the ATS, have confessed to have shot Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, while Virendra Tawade, who was the first suspect in the case, and is out on bail, had have planned the whole conspiracy, ATS has found. Even though this is not and should not be the end of the investigation, it is relieving to finally see the investigation moving forward after five long years.

As Megha Pansare, the daughter-in-law of Pansare has told Newsclick, there has been no progress so far in his case. Samir Gaikwad of Sanatan Sanstha (SS), who was arrested in September 2015, was granted bail by a Kolhapur court in June 2017, and Srikanth Pangarkar an ex-Shiv Sena corporator was detained in relation to Pansare’s case. Apart from these two, there have been no arrests. The CID has got no major leads in Kalburgi’s case either.

G. Parameshwar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, has said that the Karnataka government is thinking of handing over investigation into the killing of Kalburgi to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), after it completes its probe into the Gauri Lankesh murder case.

Complicated Investigation Ahead
All the arrests made so far are in the cases of Lankesh and possession of explosives. In the former’s case, the Karnataka SIT has arrested 12, and in the latter case, the Maharashtra ATS has arrested five. Further interrogations of those arrested have shown that it is the same set of people involved in all the four political assassinations. The five arrested in the case of explosives are also reportedly involved in the case of assassination. For example, Amol Kale, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin, who were arrested and interrogated by the SIT in the case of Lankesh, are also being named in the case of Kalburgi which is being looked into by the CID. Now, CID which is willing to interrogate all of them, is also wanting to interrogate another arrested by SIT, Rajesh Bangera. This demand by the CID is not being considered by the SIT, as the investigation is still not complete.

There also reportedly exists a tiff between the Maharashtra ATS, SIT and the CBI looking into the cases of Dabholkar and Pansare. Both CBI, an investigative agency under the Centre and Maharashtra SIT were completely inactive in probing the assassinations of Dabholkar and Pansare. One wonders why this delay? If multiple investigative agencies investigating these cases independently is delaying the investigations, the reluctance of the agencies to cooperate with each other is saving the SS and its affiliates. As the agencies and the governments now are aware of a larger conspiracy involving the SS is in place, this delay can turn out to be dangerous.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in
 

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The Pune Police raided the homes of human rights activists in Mumbai, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Delhi, Faridabad and Goa. Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira (Mumbai), Gautam Navlakha (New Delhi), Sudha Bharadwaj (Faridabad) and Varavara Rao (Hyderabad) were taken into custody, while Anand Teltumbde’s Goa residence was raided. The search warrants cite sections of the anti-terrorism law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to the offence of promoting enmity between groups. These arrests are nothing but a conspiracy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to counter the rising demands for investigating and banning the Hindutva terrorist outfits like Sanatan Sanstha (SS) in the country. 

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Karnataka have made several arrests related to the political assassinations of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. All those who have been arrested so far have connections with the Goa-based SS, and its affiliates. Yesterday’s arrests is an attempt to divert attention from the complex and large terror network of SS, and a conspiracy to carry out serial bomb attacks on Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi. 

It cannot be a coincidence that Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit – one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, who is now out on bail – filed a petition in the Supreme Court on August 27, 2018, asking for an SIT probe into his arrest. Claiming that he was arrested for political reasons by the Congress government, the petition also alleges that Purohit was targeted because he was instrumental in breaking the back of the radicals such as SIMI, ISI terror network etc. The petition also goes on to say that his arrest was a “conspiracy of some political elements to frame the Petitioner in a false case for the purposes of establishing and coining the term ‘Saffron Terror’”. 

The truth of the Hindutva terror or the saffron terror in making came to light following the bomb blast in Malegaon, Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008, which killed four people and injured 79. Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu extremist group founded by retired Major of Indian Army Ramesh Upadhyay and Lt. Col. Purohit were said to be behind the blast. Following the investigations by the Maharashtra ATS – led by late Hemant Karkare – Pragya Singh Thakur, Upadhyay, Purohit, Sameer Kulkarni, Rakesh Dhawade, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Pravin Takalki were arrested. All the arrested, except for Rakesh Dhawade, are out on bail. 

Sanatan Sanstha’s Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik were reportedly ferrying a bomb to be planted in Margao, and died in the blast behind Grace Church on the eve of Diwali on October 16, 2009.The saffron terror is on rise since then. Credits to the lethargy or ignorance of or the political influence on the investigative agencies, this terror network has been successful in establishing itself. 

ATS, following the clues by the SIT, had arrested Vaibhav Raut, Sharad Kalaskar and Sudhanwa Gondhalekar. The ATS, which made the arrests in Nalasopara and Pune on August 10, had recovered about 20 crude bombs, pistols, magazines and explosive material from them. ATS now has arrested Avinash Pawar in Mumbai on August 25, 2018, in the case of hoarding explosives. It is no longer only the question of the political assassination of rationalists or the assassins, but it is about the brain behind a larger conspiracy in the country. During the course of its investigations, the SIT has recovered two lists containing names of 36individuals who had publicly condemned Hindutva politics. These lists were put together in July 2016 and were being updated ever since. All those who have been arrested by the SIT till now, are linked to SS and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS). The SS, which proudly says that they provide the RSS with its missing spiritual outlook, also trains its seekers to use air rifles, and is also known for its extremist ideology of violence.

On August 27, 2018, the SS called for a press meet and reiterated what they have been saying since the Madgaon blasts, that all the accusations against them are false. In this press meet, the spokesperson of SS said, “Few of the arrested Hindutva-vadi activists did participate on local levels in various programmes conducted by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti for uniting Hindus, but they also worked through the medium of other organisations. And, now just because they are arrested, demanding a ban on Sanatan or demanding arrest of the head of Sanatan is ridiculous! It is as good as demanding a ban on Congress or demanding arrest of Rahul Gandhi if a leader of a party supporting Congress is arrested. Although all progressive leaders are targeting a minor spiritual organisation like Sanatan Sanstha, which is propagating spirituality, their real objective is to defame the BJP Government in the name of Hindu terrorism in view of the forthcoming elections.” 

It is in fact true that the so far arrested are not directly the members of SS, but a close look at the work of the SS tells us that these organisations make one body together, and function with different names and agendas to ensure that in case of any criminal investigation, the leaders can safely distance themselves from the perpetrators of the crime. As it is done with any other religious extremist groups, the office bearers, leaders, transactions of the Hindutva organisations functioning in the country should be investigated. It is but natural that the SS finds this demand “ridiculous”, as it would dismantle the terror kingdom that it has contributed in building along with the other Hindutva groups functioning in the country. 

As a joint statement released by the progressive individuals condemning the arrests of the activists said, the crackdown on activists is nothing but an attempt by the government to strike terror among those who are fighting for justice for the marginalised. This is also an attempt by the BJP to invent a false enemy, and engage in scaremongering in order to polarise the 2019 elections in its favour. Already, the government and the media houses close to the BJP have been trying to spin a false narrative of a Maoist conspiracy since June, 2018. Terms like “urban naxals” are invented in order to stifle any criticism of the government.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in
 

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The demand for investigating and banning the Sanatan Sanstha (SS) is on the rise. Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar had said the state government had sent a proposal to the central government seeking a ban on the outfit. However, the Centre denied receiving any such proposal. As Megha Pansare, an activist and daughter-in-law of late Comrade Govind Pansare, speaking with Newsclick noted, Kesarkar said there is not enough evidence showing the involvement of the SS in terror activities. On one hand, the reluctance of the state government to investigate the SS and on the other hand, the complex network of various organisations affiliated to the SS, is making the task of getting to the mastermind of this large conspiracy tough. The accused so far hail from two different states, and also are being investigated by two different state agencies. Ms. Pansare noted it is better if all the four cases are clubbed together and investigated together as according to her there might be miscommunication between the agencies and thus, a loss of links. 

Ms. Pansare who has been fighting against the flourishing Hindutva terrorism in the country  has been provided with X grade security by the Maharashtra police. Following the arrest of Parashuram Waghmare by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Karnataka in relation to the Gauri Lankesh case, Amole Kale an activist of Hindu Janajagruti Sanstha (HJS) was arrested. While the former has confessed to having shot dead the activist-journalist, the SIT recovered a “hit-list” with names of anti-hindutva voices and rationalists from the latter. Ms. Pansare was informed that her name was also on the list. 

While the conspirators of the ongoing political assassinations are roaming around freely, the rational voices in the country are being provided security. Explaining the situation, Ms. Pansare said, “I was informed that my name was on the list. I and Hamid Dabholkar went to meet the Additional Superintendent of Police on June 20, 2018. I asked him about this development and he did not have any such information. However, three days later he called me to confirm the information of my name being on the list; and set up a unit of six police personnel from the SP office. The security was tightened. A week after this, Mr. Krishna Prakash of the State Intelligence department from Mumbai, called me to inform that I will be provided with a State Protection Unit person who will be accompanying me everywhere. When I denied, he asked me to take this very seriously and suggested that I should not be moving around alone. I have accepted the security as a precaution.” She also confirmed that Hamid and Mukta Pansare (sister of Comrade Pansare) have been provided with similar security. 

An atmosphere of fear has been created across the country. Those raising their voices against the growing terror, atrocities on minorities, prevailing inequalities and advocating rational thoughts are being threatened and killed. Who is behind the killings of the rationalists and anti-hindutva voices is not a question without answer any longer. Credit to the SIT, we now know that the assassinations of Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh, Narendra Dabholkar and Pansare are the conspiracy of the same group of Hindutva activists affiliated to the SS and Hindu Janajagruti Sanstha (HJS). Despite the speedy investigation, who killed Pansare still remains unanswered. 

Ms. Pansare concerned about this and the threat to rational ideology, said, “We are worried because there has been no information about comrade’s killers. Even though they have been telling us that all the murders are linked, they have not arrested anybody yet. It is not a conspiracy of a small group but a large group functioning in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. We are waiting for the revelations in the case of comrade.” Ms. Pansare also noted that the investigation agencies and its officers that she is in touch with have been assuring her that they have been working really hard to solve comrade Pansare’s case. 

It is startling to see the same government of Maharashtra, which recognises the conspiracy and the possibility of more attacks, reluctant to investigate the SS and its affiliates.

Amol Kale, an activist of HJS, and Virendra Tawade, the “western commander” of HJS, were named to be the key conspirators in all the four cases; and Sachin Andure, a follower of HJS, and Sharad Kalaskar of HJS have been named as the shooters of Dr. Dabholkar. Post the revelations of the SIT, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has cracked down upon a circuit of terrorist activities seizing explosives in Mumbai and arresting four SS and HJS affiliates in the case of possessing explosives. However, there still have been no arrests in the case of Comrade Pansare. 

Surprised by this delay and the arrests by the ATS in the case of explosives, Ms. Pansare asked, “How is it that the active intelligence agencies and officers in the country were not aware of the hoarding of explosives?”. This is indeed a worrisome question. The state government of Maharashtra and the investigative agencies have been extremely slow in the investigation; civil societies in the state, ever since the assassination of Dabholkar in 2013 have been demanding an investigation into the doings of the SS. However, even now, the SS is not being investigated. Why this reluctance towards investigating the SS? 

“It is only the building of pressure on the governments and agencies that is going to ensure an investigation into the functioning of the SS and its affiliates; there is a need for a continuous negotiation with the governments and also the building of pressure groups,” said Ms. Pansare. On August 20, 2018, which was the fifth death anniversary of Dabholkar, around a thousand people gathered in Pune and demanded an action against the SS. Tushar Gandhi speaking at the protest accused the governments of saving the SS. There are a series of protests and discussions that are being organised by the civil societies both in Maharashtra and Karnataka. 

On August 29, 2018, there is a conference of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in Kolhapur, and Megha Pansare will be participating. Post the conference, she and others will be staging a protest. National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) is organising a national level rally talking to people about the growing intolerance in the country and will be submitting a memorandum to the collector in Kolhapur. Shabnam Hashmi is also organising a jatta. In Karnataka, from August 30 (third death anniversary of M M Kalburgi) to September 5 (first death anniversary of Gauri Lankesh), there are various protests that have been planned.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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