Saturday, May 30 marks the first anniversary of the beginning of the second term of Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India. Modi won with a huge majority in the May 2019 general election. Out of total 542 seats in the parliament, the BJP alone bagged 300. This was more than the total number of 272 seats required to get a clear majority. In 2014, BJP won 282 seats—10 more than the magic figure. The 2019 election result was therefore a spectacular win that no one anticipated.

The most challenging part of this election was that it was considered a referendum on the sectarian politics of Modi. Attacks on religious minorities, especially Muslims had grown under this government since he first came to power.

Those opposed to Modi warned that if BJP got another chance, India will be transformed into a Hindutva theocracy. Not surprisingly, the victory emboldened Modi government to scrap special status given to the state of Kashmir – the only Muslim majority province in India – in the name of national security. An armed insurgency alongside peaceful agitation has been going on in the region for the right to self- determination. The BJP has always been threatening to take away special rights given to the people of Kashmir to polarise the Hindu majority in the rest of the country. Not only civil rights and freedom have been suspended in the area, troops have been heavily deployed to suppress any voice of dissent.

If that was not enough, the government has passed a controversial and divisive Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that discriminates against Muslim refugees coming from the neighbouring countries sparking angry protests, which have subsided due to lockdown following the outbreak of COVID 19.

It’s now a matter of time when India officially declares itself as a Hindu nation as the country has made a choice.

If the election of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur—a controversial Hindu ascetic who faces trial in the bombing conspiracy against Muslims is any indication, Indians have not only sold their soul to Modi, but have let down an honest police officer who exposed the Hindutva terror network.

The late Hemant Karkare had smashed the terror module involved in bombings targeted at Muslim community. Until then, the media and the intelligence blamed most terror incidents in India on Muslim extremists without even considering the possibility of Hindu fanatics being involved.

Karkare, being a thoroughly professional officer associated with Maharashtra’s anti terrorism squad was completely detached from majoritarian prejudices. This was in spite of the fact that he was a practising Hindu.

Notably, Modi and his party had started a smear campaign against him for arresting Hindus involved in terror activities.

Thakur – who was nominated as a BJP candidate from Bhopal was involved in the 2008 bomb blast in Malegaon. The incident had left 10 people dead and close to 100 injured. This was one of the many blasts triggered by a gang that wants to instil fear in the minds of Muslims and establish a Hindu state by overthrowing a democratic and secular republic of India. Her arrest had outraged Modi.

Thakur wasn’t the only Hindu extremist to be arrested for terrorism. Karkare’s investigation had culminated into the arrests of several more who had conspired bomb blasts in different parts of India.

On November 26, 2008 when India’s financial capital of Mumbai came under attack from Pakistan-based terror group, Karkare was shot to death under mysterious circumstances. Many like a former police officer S.M. Mushrif believe that this attack was used to also silence Karkare for ever and while under the grip of a terror attack, a shadow group took his life. His book, “Who killed Karkare? The real face of terrorism in India” raises some uncomfortable questions even if some of the conclusions are too pat. 

Mushrif’s second book, “Brahminists bombed, Muslims hanged: The Brahminist game of blast and blame Muslims” maps out all the terror incidents involving Hindu extremists and gives a detailed account of how these cases have been diluted and weakened by the government under Modi and police and courts have enabled individuals such as Thakur to go unpunished. While Thakur was given bail to run for the office, others like her were acquitted for lack of evidence. The Modi administration has indicated that it’s not going to pursue these cases, even as the courts have said that not enough evidence was presented to corroborate the claims against suspects. Modi has publicly gone on record to discredit investigations against Hindu extremists by accusing previous governments of deliberately maligning Hindu groups.

This is in sharp contrast to what Muslim and Sikh extremists have faced at the hands of the police, who have frequently killed political activists and suspects through extra judicial means with impunity.

It is pertinent to mention that Kakare who became a national hero overnight for BJP after getting killed in Mumbai terror attack was defamed posthumously by Thakur and her supporters.

Whether Karkare was killed by Hindutva forces or not, is difficult to establish. But the way his investigation has been botched after his death, and his image is being tarnished by the apologists of Modi, is shameful.

One needs to read a book by his daughter Jui Karkara Navare to understand the commitment of the slain officer who had dedicated his life to the country. ‘Hemant Karkare: A Daughter’s Memoir” reveals how fair this exceptional policeman was. He was just doing his duty without any discrimination. His faith in Hinduism and his love for the country did not blind him while dealing with Hindu extremists or extremists of any other shade alike.  

It was indeed painful to see the nation turning blind eye to the actions of Thakur and others like her in the BJP and giving Modi another chance.

For now, Indians need to do some introspection and hang their heads in shame, rather than rejoicing second win of someone who is patronizing terrorism and hatred.

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“In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development…. If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. It is incompatible with democracy. Hindu raj must be prevented at any cost.”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  – Dr B R Ambedkar

Pragya Singh Thakur claimed at Bhopal, April 19, 2019 that “Hemant Karkare died because of my curse.” In her own words, the policeman had treated her “very badly” while she was in custody in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Elaborating the point, she said, “Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me. He died of his karma. I told him he will be destroyed. I told him his entire dynasty will be erased. Maine kaha tera [Karkare] sarvanash hoga.” ^[1] 

Entire dynasty of the IPS officer came under curse of a political fortune seeker while doing his duty with highest standard of efficiency, probity and competence.  The IPS officer was known impeccable integrity and indomitable courage, Hemant Karkare was cursed by an accused. This reminds me a Bengali proverb, “Death does not befall a cow in consequence of curse of a vulture, does it?” Almost all Indian languages, I am sure, must boast of a proverb as this or similar to it.

Hemant along with his colleagues chased the Pakistani terrorists, who, on November 26, 2011, waged a war against India and invaded Mumbai. The Mumbai police fought valiantly and Hemant Karkare and some of his colleagues on mission finally laid down their lives. The nation is proud of those martyrs. About eight years later, we hear that the IPS officer died of curse of a political power-seeker, contesting 2019 elections from Bhopal Parliamentary constituency, Madhya Pradesh. This nonsense or rubbish has widely been reported, commented upon and/or condemned by Indian media, columnists and opinion-makers.

The nation conferred on slain Hemant Karkare, posthumously, the Ashoka Chakra for his exemplary sacrifice. This is India’s highest peacetime military decoration conferred for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for the “most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice” other than in the face of the enemy. 

According to a British Broadcasting Corporation bulletin, the Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11 of 2008 left 166 people dead and soured ties between India and Pakistan. During the 60-hour siege, the gunmen also ambushed a group of policemen, including three of the city’s top officers travelling in a vehicle and killed six of them. The only policeman, Arun Jadhav, with grievous injuries, survived the unprovoked brutalities launched on India to tell the world “the grisly story of his escape.” ^[2]  

Besides, Karkare, Sadhvi Pragya’s curse, if anyone takes her at all seriously, drew curtains on lives of valiant Indian Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s Additional Police Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar who, in no way, were involved in the alleged torture of Pragya Thakur during investigations of Malegaon blasts cases. A television channel reported that India had asked Pakistan to hand over Mumbai underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim, Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Maulana Masood Azhar for their suspected involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. ^[3]  

Any person with an iota of intelligence would be appalled at the direct linkage the curse straightway established between the merchants of deaths and manufacturers of terror aforementioned operating from Pakistani soil and the Hindu Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who enjoys the umbrella held by the Hindu nationalist ruling Party over her head to contest parliamentary elections 2019. The implication of the Sadhvi’s claim underlines that Pakistani terror outfits patronized by Dawood Ibrahim, Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed leader  Maulana Masood Azhar  took immediate and absorbing interest in translating her curse into action with bloody and devastating consequences. A deadly gang of terrorists, including Ajmal Kasab, descended on Mumbai within ‘theek sava mahine’ or 37-38 days, to achieve the objectives and purposes of sadhvi Pragya’s curse, i. e., Hemant Karkare’s sarvanash. It is of immense national importance to decode the secrets along with the mystery enveloping the entire issue. However, no Indian worth his salt would pocket an insult as this for his motherland. This is a crying need to investigate the probably link between the two ends—a Sadhvi of India and terror outfits in Pakistan.

Part-II
Puri Jagannath & His Temple
Surrendered to East India Company in 1803

In a 14-day campaign, the East India Company captured Orissa unopposed and brought an end of oppressive Peshwa rule in 1803. The army simply marched up to Pipli within firing distance of Puri temple town. A delegation of the temple priests and pandas welcomed the victorious commanding officer of the British Army. They surrendered the control, management and maintenance of Bhagwan Jagannath, and his temple in obedience to an ‘oracle.’ ^[4]According to Swami Dharma Theertha (pre-ascetic Parameswara Menon, B. A., LLB) “the oracle of the Puri Jagannath proclaimed that it was the desire of the deity that the temple too be controlled by the Company.” ^[5] What an enigmatic desire of the Lord of the Universe!

Lo and behold the fate of bold and abiding promises Lord Krishna made in the Holy Geeta to his followers:  

“Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
 
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge” ^[6]
 
Was it any better than hogwash or a pre-election promise dishonoured and neglected in compliance? Though Lord Krishna was fervently expected to destroy the invading British along with the temple priests and pandas whose mischief out of petty self-interests threw Him, his brother and sister under the feet of the British overlords.

From 1803 to 1841, the British Trading Company controlled, managed and maintained the Jagannath Temple which was the home of Lord Krishna, his elder brother Balabhadra and their sister Subhadra. Regulations were passed in 1806 and taxes collected from the pilgrims in tens of thousands resorting to Puri from all over India. They paid taxes in lakhs of rupees. The Company spent, by and large, half of the income on the temple management, rituals, maintenance and establishment and the balance half was credited to Company Exchequer, as solid profits. The priests of the Jagannath temple did not suffer any qualms of conscience for this sorry state of affairs.   
 
The question really to ask is: Are the slokas of the Bhagawad Geeta afore-quoted anything but work of fiction? Interestingly, the Englishmen, at home and abroad, condemned their own most famous Trading Company for subscribing to idolatry. No Indians ever appear to have voiced any grievance against British occupation and control of Jagannath Temple for about four decades when they minted tons of money.  They also taxed pilgrims at Gaya, Tirupati, Prayag, etc. with enormous benefit. The British shared income from taxes with priests in these centres and so they were kept in good humour.  
 
The BJP Sankalpa Patra Lok Sabha 2019 on national security enunciated ‘Zero tolerance’ approach to terrorism as follows:
 
“Our security doctrine will be guided by our national security interest only…. We will firmly continue our policy of ‘Zero Tolerance’ against terrorism and extremism and will continue our policy of giving free hand to our forces in combating terrorism.”  [01]
Lord of the Universe, Jagannath was desirous of enjoying the superior control, management and maintenance of the foreign rulers! No countrymen seemed to have ever questioned Jagannath’s attachment for British rulers! Pragya Thakur’s curse invited Pakistani terrorists right in Mumbai with terrible consequences. Should she not at least be asked to enlighten the countrymen how did a gang of dreadful Pakistani terrorists become so handy in materializing her curse, waging a war against their sovereign neighbour? Does the blueprint of national security of BJP in their Sankalp for Lok Sabha 2019 presented before the country stand to be compromised by someone like of the Sadhvi? 
 
(*The writer, a retired IAS officer and former Vice-Chancellor, Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Dr A K Biswas can be contacted at biswasatulk@gmail.com.)

^[1] The Hindu, April 19, 2019, Bhopal, “Hemant Karkare died because of my curse.”
^[2]  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46314555
^[3]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_2008_Mumbai_attacks
^[4]  Swami Dharma Theertha, Menace of Hindu Imperialism, 2^nd edition, Har Bhagwan Happy Home Publication, Krishnanagar, Lahore, October 1946, p. 166.  
^[5] Ibid.
^[6] Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 4, Verse 7-8
 

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May 31 2008: The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) from the police department defuses a bomb found in a plastic carrier bag at an auditorium in Vashi, Navi Mumbai. The bag contained batteries, gelatine sticks, detonators and ammonium nitrate. Fortunately again, no damage was done.

June 4, 2008: A bomb explodes in the Gadkari Rangayatan theatre in Thane where a Marathi play, Amhi Pachpute, was due to be staged. Seven persons are injured.

Thane, June 2008

Who was targeting cinema halls and auditoriums on the outskirts of Mumbai with such alarming frequency and why? The ATS team of the Maharashtra police suspected that Hindu extremist organisations were behind the blasts, as some of these groups had been protesting against the film and the play for weeks. Their grouse was that Hindu gods and goddesses were being shown in a poor light and permission to stage such plays or films must not be granted.

Working on their assumption, 16 teams of the ATS checked the records of all vehicles that entered the premises of the Gadkari Rangayatan theatre on June 4. After cross-checking the list with the RTO the police pinpointed a motorcycle that was registered in the name of a Hindu trust, the Guru Kripa Pratisthan. The police then traced the organisation’s office to Panvel where it is located in the premises of another Hindu organisation called the Sanatan Sanstha (SS). Set up in 1999, the SS, a revivalist group run by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, has an ashram in Sukhapur village near Panvel.

By June 23, the ATS had arrested six Hindu extremists belonging to the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS). It later learnt that the two organisations were closely associated. The first two to be nabbed – Hanumant Gadkari (50) and Mangesh Dinkar Nikam (34) – belonged both to the SS and the HJS. Two more sevaks (activists) of the Sanatan Sanstha, Santosh Angre (26) and Vikram Bhave (26), allegedly part of the network that reportedly planted the bombs at the Bhave auditorium in Vashi and Thane’s Gadkari Rangayatan, were the next to be arrested by the ATS. Unemployed, Angre and Bhave were full-time residents of the Sanatan Sanstha ashram.

On June 23, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also arrested Dr Hemant Chalke, a member of Sanatan Sanstha, for conducting a recce of Vashi’s Bhave theatre where a bomb was found on May 31.

The ATS also seized 19 gelatine sticks, 20 detonators, two timers and three circuits, which were dumped in the Balganga river in Pen. The police also seized six batteries, one timer and half a dozen detonators from the Satara residence of another accused, Mangesh Nikam.

"We are proud of what we did to deter those who were trying to show our gods and goddesses in poor light," the accused reportedly told the investigators. "We have extracted the names of the places from where the material used in the bombs was bought by the accused. We know where the circuit material, the ammonium nitrate and the timer were bought. We also know the place from where the soldering work was done for the bomb. In fact, the accused had availed of a 10 per cent discount on the timer," said the ATS chief, Hemant Karkare.

The ATS is also examining the records of those arrested for the Jalna, Purna and Parbhani mosque blasts to check if there was any connection between the accused in the cases and whether the SS and the HJS have any organisational links.

According to information gathered and made public by the ATS, in early January this year activists of the Sanatan Sanstha, which is known for the ashrams it operates across the state, decided that to stop the ‘wrongful’ portrayal of Hindu gods and goddesses they needed to send out a ‘loud’ message. They tried to put together a crude bomb made of gunpowder and attempted to set it off, using a fuse wire, at a cemetery in Raigad district. The attempt failed. Their choice of location for the trial, a cemetery, is significant.

This was before they met Nikam, who turned out to be the perfect complement to Gadkari. Nikam’s past experience and knowledge in the use of high intensity explosives like gelatine was complemented by Gadkari’s knowledge of electric circuits (he was an electrician). Following some basic research the group assembled its first improvised explosive device (IED) containing two gelatine sticks, 300 gm of ammonium nitrate, detonators and a battery-powered electric circuit as a trigger mechanism. This was the device they exploded at the Cineraj cinema in Panvel on February 20, without much success.

Three months later, according to the ATS, the group had upgraded its skills enough to assemble a second, more sophisticated IED. Though similar in composition to the earlier one, it was operated by a far more refined trigger mechanism – a digital timer controlled by a remote control device. The group planted this IED at Vashi’s Vishnudas Bhave Natyagruha where the play, Amhi Pachpute, was being staged on May 31. But it was found and defused before any damage was done. Gadkari and Nikam are held responsible for the three blasts between February and June. Nikam was allegedly also involved in a February 2006 case in which a bomb was planted outside the home of a Catholic family in Ratnagiri.

The Sanatan Sanstha was quick to deny any organisational responsibility or link to the blasts. At a press conference held soon after the arrests both the SS and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, the latter claiming to be an ‘umbrella organisation of many bodies’, said: "We cannot deny their association with us but we had nothing to do with the blast. Sanatan Sanstha will never support such violent acts," said Abhay Vartak, the organisation’s spokesperson. "Our protests have always been peaceful, through dialogue," said Dr Uday Dhuri, coordinator of HJS’ Mumbai chapter.

The SS also condemned the blast through an editorial in its SS newspaper, Sanatan Prabhat, but with a rider: "Though we condemn the act, the mind-set and the anger of these (arrested) people should be understood and the mocking of Hindu gods should be stopped."
The HJS, whose declared aim is "uniting Hindus globally", has no headquarters or formal membership. But it has a strong online presence. It owes its genesis to an October 2002 meeting where Hindu deities were "blasphemously criticised" and the lone man who protested was attacked. "With a view to protest against this attack, all Hindu organisations came together and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti was established on October 13, 2002 [at the] initiative of seekers of Sanatan Sanstha," says the outfit’s website. Currently, the group’s global agenda is to protest against the "anti-Hindu" Hollywood movie, The Love Guru, and "anti-Hindu textbooks" for schoolchildren in Goa, and to save the Ram Sethu.

Media investigations and reports of a sinister network of hard line Hindu outfits across Maharashtra and Goa pose a particular challenge to investigation and intelligence agencies. According to a report in The Indian Express (June 22):
"The five men were members of the Sanatan Sanstha (SS) and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), hitherto little-known groups operating in the hinterland of Maharashtra and Goa. Two of them are also members of another newly launched outfit called the Dharmashakti Sena, pictures of whose inaugural rally in April show young men dressed in military fatigues.

"These groups, which work like wheels within wheels, have been quietly mobilising Hindus on a cocktail of Ramrajya (Rama’s rule), Hindu dharma and ‘dharmakranti’ (religious revolution) in and around Mumbai for a few years now.
"While the SS and the HJS are both registered in Goa as charitable organisations, the Dharmashakti Sena was set up in 16 Maharashtra towns and cities on Gudi Padwa day this April. Its stated aim: establishing ‘Ramrajya’ and to make Hindus ‘capable of action’.
"Publications linked to the three groups say the Dharmashakti Sena offers free training in self-defence and the training involves inculcating ‘mental courage’. It also reminds readers of the ‘armed battle of revolutionaries and saints’, RSS guru Golwalkar’s work on ‘protecting Hindus’ and his teaching that ‘weapons should be countered with weapons’.

"‘Conversions of Hindus’, ‘genocide’, the Congress government’s alleged poor track record against Islamic terrorism, ‘persecution at the hands of anti-Hindus’, are recurrent themes alongside a call for Hindus and Hindu organisations to unite. Unlike leaders of the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, the men and women behind these new outfits are low-profile activists who have been quietly chipping away at the mind-set of Hindus in Maharashtra and Goa. The founder of the SS, the oldest of the three groups, is Dr Jayant Athavale, a clinical hypnotherapist who practised for two decades and also set up the Indian Society of Clinical Hypnosis and Research. A former resident of Goa, Dr Athavale is now a resident of New Bombay. His students are quick to exonerate his role in present activities, however.

"HJS and SS leaders are also cagey talking about Dharmashakti Sena chief Vinay Panvalkar, thought to live in the Dadar area of Central Mumbai and who has travelled extensively across Maharashtra after the outfit was launched. At a ‘dharmajagruti sabha’ (religious awakening conference) in Pune in mid-May 2008, Panvalkar is quoted as saying: "Hindus are cornered from all sides but there is no retaliation from them." At a later meeting in Thane he said, "The war in future will be a dharmayudh (religious war) and Dharmashakti Sena will be the guiding force."

The Indian Express investigation shows that the linkages to these groups from Maharashtra and Goa go all the way to Australia and the United States with centres in New Jersey, Brisbane, Melbourne and Dubai.
The top leaders of these organisations are: Dr Jayant Balaji Athavale, founder of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Virendra Marathe, managing trustee of Sanatan Sanstha, Vinay Panvalkar, chief of Dharmashakti Sena, Dr Durgesh Samant, national spokesman of HJS, Abhay Vartak, Mumbai spokesman of Sanatan Sanstha, and Shivaji Vatkar, Mumbai convenor of HJS.

Archived from Communalism Combat, July-August 2008. Year 15, No.133, Maharashtra, Cover Story 7

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