The said demonstration is being organised to protest against violence and to promote humanity and sisterhood.  The said protest was organised by Maharashtra Superstition Nirmoolan Samiti, Mumbai. Many organisations came together to participate in the said protest, some of whom are Maharashtra Annis, Nashabandi Mandal, Rashtra Seva Dal, Friends of Democracy, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti Mahotsav Samiti, Rebel Cultural Movement, Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal, Bhakar Foundation, Jamaat e Islam Hind, CPM, CPI, Samata Parishad, Secular Janata Dal, Chhatra Bharti , Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Vidyarthi Bharti, Marathi Bharti, Abha Parivartan Sanstha, Stree Mukti Sanghatana, AISF, DYFI, Maharashtra Vaidu Vikas Samiti, Constitution Campaigner Lokchalwal, Malvani Yuva Parishad (Youth Group), Anubhav Shiksha Kendra and Citizen for Justice  and Peace (CJP). 

It is essential to note that the said protest was to be taken out from Veer Kotwal to Chaityabhoomi, while covering Sena Bhavan, Portuguese Church, and Sushrusha Hospital, was stopped by the police and not allowed to proceed as planned. As provided by a participant to SabrangIndia, after people gathered at the first stop, the police came to the spot and provided that the permission to take out procession stood “cancelled” after being initially granted. Citizens were confined inside Kotwal maidan and could not walk to Chaityabhoomi, as was scheduled. But, inspite of this hurdle, protesters continued with their songs of justice and resistance at the same spot. 

Supreme Court asks CBI to look into ‘Larger Conspiracy’ in killings of Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, Lankesh

On August 18, the Supreme Court told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into whether there was an overarching conspiracy in the killings of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, activist Govind Pansare, writer M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh. Notably, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing a plea filed by Dabholkar’s daughter, Mukta Dabholkar, challenging the Bombay high court’s refusal to continue monitoring his murder case.

It is essential to note that in April 2023, the Bombay High Court had refused to continue monitoring the murder probe of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead for ideological reasons in 2013. A division bench of Justices Ajay S Gadkari and Prakash Naik had disposed of two petitions, one of which was filed by Mukta, stating that “…No further monitoring is required.” It is crucial to note that the masterminds behind the said crime are yet to be arrested. 

Senior Advocate Anand Grover, appearing for the petitioner argued that the CBI investigation was not completed when the impugned order of the High Court was passed. Advocate Grover further highlighted that even perfunctory evidence indicated that the murders of Govind Pansare (killed in 2015), Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, Professor MM Kalburgi (killed in 2015), and Gauri Lankesh (killed in 2017) are interconnected. Grover also contended that this issue was agitated before the Bombay High Court. To provide a link, the court was informed that emphasized that Dabholkar was against superstitious practices, Pansare had written a book on Shivaji Maharaj, Kalburgi propagated separation of Lingayats from Hindus and Lankesh was disliked for her views.

When Justice Dhulia asked what was wrong with the high court’s observation that it will not monitor the case in which trial was ongoing and several witnesses had been examined, Advocate Grover stated that the absconding accused had not been arrested yet – despite which a trial was afoot, as reported by LiveLaw.

When asked about the “larger conspiracy” angle, the ASG said that among the five accused sufficient evidence is not there against three, and the other two are not connected. Another five accused are undergoing trial, she said as reported by LiveLaw.

On this, as per LiveLaw, the bench told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI, that the CBI could examine the issue of a larger conspiracy on the basis of additional documents filed by Dabholkar’s daughter. The bench asked for clarity from the CBI on whether the accused who are on trial have no common thread between them.

“The accused who are facing a trial, according to you there is no common thread in those four murders? Right? That is what you are saying?” Justice Dhulia had enquired, as per LiveLaw. 

Brief Background of the case:

The present case pertains to Narendra Dabholkar, a rationalist and social activist, who was shot dead by extremist elements on his morning walk in 2013.

In 2014, the High Court transferred the probe to the CBI from Pune police following a petition by activist Ketan Tirodkar and later by Mukta Dabholkar. Since then, the court has been monitoring the progress of the case.

In 2021, the special Pune court framed charges against alleged mastermind Virendra Sinh Tawde. It charged him and three others for murder, conspiracy and terror-related offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The fifth accused, Advocate Sanjeev Punalekar was charged with destruction of evidence. The accused were allegedly connected to the right-wing religious outfit Sanathan Sanstha. 

Related:

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Bombay HC disturbed at delay in Dabholkar-Pansare murder investigation

Narendra Dabholkar and his immortal ideas

Gauri Lankesh Assassination: Accused denied bail by Aurangabad HC

Five years since we lost Gauri Lankesh

Gauri Lankesh Assassination Trial: Hearings to resume before KCOCA Court today

Firing at the Heart of Truth: Remembering MM Kalburgi

Gunman in Kalburgi murder case also Gauri Lankesh murder accused?

From Kalburgi to Gauri Lankesh: Silencing Rational Voices in Karnataka

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Every person has a brain, equipped to help them through any problem without the assistance of an external, supernatural power.

These words of social activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar continue to serve as a guiding post for his son Hamid as well as organisation the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) years after his death in 2013.

Born on November 1, 1945, rationalist and atheist Dabholkar played a pivotal role in Maharashtra’s social history. He switched from medicine to social work in the 1980s and years later introduced the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. His demise speeded up the enactment process of the Bill after many previous rejections.

The 67-year-old man was murdered early morning on August 20, 2013 by two gunmen near Omkareshwar temple in Pune. Since then, similar shootings have led to killings of communist leader Govind Pansare and Kannada scholar M. M. Kalburgi in 2015 and journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

Hamid suspected the serial attacks were planned primarily to discourage organisations like the MANS from continuing social work. However, far from being disheartened, members resolved to bring justice upon the murderers.

“Following his [Dr Dabholkar’s] death, the MANS was faced with many challenges, not the least of which were finding the criminals who killed him, enactment of the anti-black magic law and our persistent agitation for the eradication of superstitions in society,” said Hamid.

Their first agenda made progress in 2018 with the arrest of Sachin Andure, suspected of being one of the two gunmen. However, the other two agendas grew leaps and bounds owing to the anti-black magic law. Despite strong opposition from religious groups like the Warkari sect, the law was enacted as the first-of-its-kind legislation in India.

“Maharashtra is the only state other than Karnataka [enacted similar laws later] that allows for complaints regarding superstition and black magic. The law benefits the society as a whole,” said Hamid, a member of the MANS.

According to him, 700 cases have been filed under the Act out of which 15 to 20 cases convicted the accused. Moreover, a growing number of people in Karnataka and even Assam have voiced complaints regarding such atrocities of late.

“The most important point is that common people are using this law,” he said.

The anti-black magic Act declared the forced ingestion of human excreta, encouragement of human sacrifice, accusation of demon-incarnations, psychic surgery, the prevention of medical treatment due to black magic remedies as some of the many non-bailable offences that would lead to six months to seven years prison sentence as well as a Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000 fine.

These clauses were drafted by Dabholkar himself. Yet, according to his son, he never really believed that legislature alone could change the evils prevalent in society, especially god-persons, self-styled ascetics, who claimed to perform medical miracles. However, he insisted on legislation nonetheless.

Elaborating on his father’s argument, Hamid pointed out that this isn’t an either-or situation. The battle against social evils requires both social and legal awareness. To illustrate his point, he recounted the incident of godman Nitin Maharaj whose ‘tomato prasad’ supposedly cured grave medical illnesses. Authorities succeeded in filing a lawsuit against these false claims thanks to the existence of the anti-superstition law.

Dr Dabholkar believed that the fight against blind faith wasn’t merely a decade-long but a century-long battle. In keeping with this long battle, he was also careful to pass on the distinction of religion from superstition to his supporters.

“We do not believe in the rationalist or atheist thought that religion should be rejected to fight social evils. There are many organisations, communities, who work for social benefit in the name of religion,” said Hamid.

Hamid asserted that the MANS believed and endorsed the freedom to religion assured to every citizen by the Indian Constitution.

“Our organisation is concerned about the crimes that take place in the name of religion. Visiting a place of worship is different from a person claiming he has supernatural healing abilities. Exploitation is the key difference,” said Hamid, voicing his father’s sentiment who fought against fraudulent practices rather than religion itself.

Talking about his father at home, Hamid said he remembered his father’s constant optimism regarding his endeavours. Activism was not an alien topic in their household and in all these discussions the doctor’s voice never hinted dismay or defeat.

“A few days before my father’s death, an interviewer asked him why he didn’t ask for protection. My father said that his hope was that the agitation would continue even if he was murdered. So, I think he would have been quite satisfied with how things have turned out in recent years,” he said.

Doctor’s wish came true. Even today, the MANS is viewed with hostility by right-wing groups who threatened Dabholkar when he was alive. However, in trying to end his life and instil fear in the minds of similar thinkers, the attackers ended up emboldening the rationalists and conscientious thinkers of the state.

“I think, today, my father’s murderers must have understood the gravity of the statement ‘maanus marun vichar sampavta yet nahi. [You can kill a person but you can’t kill an idea]” he said.

Related:

HJS dubs Narendra Dabholkar ‘Urban Naxal’

“Scientific thinking requires independence of thought”

6 Years After Narendra Dhabolkar’s Assassination, Masterminds Remain Free

‘I Shot at Narendra Dabholkar Twice’: Sharad Kalaskar Confesses

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In a shocking video of an online seminar, Narendra Dabholkar, the late anti-superstition activist and social reformer, was dubbed an ‘Urban Naxal’ by the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS). The Vishesh Samvad or special conversation in Marathi was hosted by the group on its Youtube and Facebook pages and was titled ‘Urban Naxalwad ani aparichit Dr. Dabholkar’ that can be translated as Urban Naxalism and the unknown Dr. Dabholkar.

The HJS has over 65,000 subscribers on Youtube, and Hindu Adhiveshan, the Facebook page of the HJS affiliate that hosted the live video has over 1.4 million followers. On Twitter the handle @hindujagrutiorg has over 44,000 followers.

The online seminar was hosted by HJS’s Satish Kochrekar and had speakers like Sumit Sagvekar from the organisation’s youth wing, Hindu Vidhigya Parishad spokesperson Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, and Sanatan Sanstha national spokesperson Chetan Rajhans, and also a video where senior journalist Bhau Torsekar compares Urban Naxalism to the coronavirus and calls it the enemy within India’s body.

The video then goes on to name activist Sudha Bharadwaj, poet Varavara Rao and even writer Arundhuti Roy as Naxal sympathisers. Rajhans in fact goes on to suggest that Urban Naxalism was a communist conspiracy by China and spread right from the time of independence. He says that Urban Naxalism is spread by brainwashing city people who are dissatisfied with their life or circumstances. Curiously, he also claims it is a part of an Islamic conspiracy to turn India into an Islamic state!  

As if this wasn’t trippy enough, Rajhans then goes on to target intellectuals, journalists and even the film industry for spreading Naxalist and communist ideas! He drags another slain rationalist Gauri Lankesh and claims she was working against the nation because she regarded Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid as her sons.

This is when, a good forty minutes into the seminar, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and his anti-superstition organisation the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) are mentioned for the first time. He is accused by Kocharekar of being a Naxal sympathiser who distributed pro-Naxal literature via ‘press notes’. What follows is a series of wild allegations linking Dabholkar and his organisation to Naxals and accusing them for furthering a Naxalite agenda.

Rajhans also accuses Dabholkar and his family of using the Parivartan Foundation to get foreign funding to further the Naxal agenda in India. He then goes on to make a series of bizarre claims against Dabholkar alleging tax evasion and even money laundering, asking why he was involved in peasants’ rights. This showcases the right-wing’s complete inability to look at social ills from the intersectional lens.

Rajhans then goes on to allege that Dabholkar’s social work aimed to discredit Hinduism in order to promote atheism as a part of an agenda that was not only anti-Hindu, but also anti-national.

The video of HJS’s Vishesh Samvad may be viewed here. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

It is noteworthy that Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist and a vocal opponent of blind-faith. He was a thorn in the side of right-wing extremists and was gunned down in cold blood on August 20, 2013 allegedly by Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure, two men who allegedly owe allegiance to right-wing extremist groups themselves.

Interestingly, Amol Kale, a former convener of the Hindu Jangruti Samiti was allegedly the person who hired Parshuram Waghmare, the alleged shooter in the assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh. The cold-blooded killings of Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh had sent shockwaves across India and were seen as signs of how far right-wing groups would go to silence rationalists, truth-speakers and dissenters.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the group is attempting to besmirch Dabholkar’s reputation even after his death. But there appears to be an even more nefarious motive to their latest actions. It appears that by dubbing Dabholkar as an ‘Urban Naxal’, a term originally coined by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, the group is furthering the Sangh Parivar’s agenda of deligitimising all his goodwill.

It is important to remember that in October 2018, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat had launched a booklet titled ‘Kaun Hain Urban Naxal?’ at a glittering ceremony held in Nagaur, Rajasthan. Published by Jaipur based Vishwa Samvad Kendra and sold for Rs 20/- a piece, the booklet comprises 15 essays authored by the usual suspects; Makarand Paranjpe, Vivek Agnihotri, Dr Neelam Mahendra, and others. It appears these essays have been published previously on different platforms and just been compiled into this booklet. The booklet is an out and out smear campaign against some of India’s most respected intellectuals and human rights activists. However, this sinister agenda is driven by a rather banal set of stories.

Related:

6 Years After Narendra Dhabolkar’s Assassination, Masterminds Remain Free

Gunman in Kalburgi murder case also Gauri Lankesh murder accused?

The post HJS dubs Narendra Dabholkar ‘Urban Naxal’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“It shall be the duty of every citizen ‘to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”
[Article 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution]

Image Credits: Amazon|The Caravan

Translated by Jai Vipra

“I shot him twice”, says Sharad Kalaskar, one of the two prime accused in the assassination of rationalist  Narendra Dabholkar, about the act. Kalaskar further elaborates the two shots – one in the head and the other, right above the eye – in his confession to the Karnataka Police.

Assassinated by Kalaskar and Sachin Andure on the morning of August 20, 2013, Narendra Dabholkar was a medical doctor and the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), a group committed to fighting superstition and black magic in the state from 1989.

Dabholkar made several attempts to bring about an anti-superstition law in Maharashtra. Under his supervision, MANS drafted the Anti-Jaadu Tona Bill (Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance). The bill was opposed by the BJP and Shiv Sena, claiming that it was against Hindu culture. However, a day after his death in 2013, the bill was approved as an ordinance by the Maharashtra government. MANS has also spearheaded the campaign against polluting water bodies by the immersion of Ganesha idols in them during festivals, against godmen, astrology and other superstitious beliefs. Right before his death, he and the group were involved in an intense campaign against superstition and blind faith, with rallies and press conferences.

Dabholkar, part of the country’s pro-science and scientific temper movement, was one of the three rationalists who were murdered one after the other around the same time. Communist leader Govind Pansare in Mumbai and academic M M Kalburgi in Karnataka, were shot dead for similar reasons in the following years.

These are to be seen as attacks on reason and science in general, in a country which has had a strong philosophical streak of materialism and rationality as part of its history. Not to be seen as isolated incidents of violence, they are a part of a concerted effort to attack India’s scientific temper. Their attempts at promoting science and scientific thinking were in opposition to the narrative of the current regime, which one the one hand unleashes violence on those who work towards an inquisitive society and on the other, people at the helm of affairs, including the prime minister, produce unscientific and ahistorical claims about the country’s past. Furthermore, we have the country’s most important rocket scientists falling at the feet of godmen and astrology before each of their scientific ventures.

At six years since Dabholkar’s assassination, his death anniversary is commemorated as National Scientific Temper Day in India. Today, 20 August 2019, the Indian Cultural Forum too joins the nation in remembering this giant of a rationalist, in an effort to also develop science, rationality, and the spirit of scientific temper, a Constitutionally ordained duty of every citizen.

The following are excerpts from the chapters “Scientific Temper” and “Religious Inquiries and Rationalism” from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper by Narendra Dabholkar. 

Possessing scientific knowledge and developing a scientific temper are two different things. A person who has studied science is more likely to develop a scientific temper than someone who has no knowledge of science, but there is no guarantee that she will do so.

Scientific thinking requires independence of thought, a faculty which inheres within a person’s value system. Thus, mere intellect cannot help develop a scientific temper. A person can be highly intelligent and yet incapable of independent thinking, while another person of average intellect could have a keenly analytical bent of mind.

In other words, acquiring a scientific knowledge is a function of someone’s intelligence but developing a scientific temper is a function of their values. In the same vein, the notion that common people lack the ability to internalise scientific thinking is false. In fact, it is much more difficult for such people to internalise the teachings of religion.

Certain people who possess a scientific temper also follow superstitious practices. They are either insincere or struggling to live in the way they want to. Perhaps they do not want to detract from their well-wishers. Whatever the case may be, they cannot be held up as examples for the failure of scientific thinking. We do not label pious believers as irreligious just because some other people use religion for their beliefs and their deeds. However, the truly scientific person strives to bridge the gap between their thoughts and actions.

Scientific thinking saves time, effort and money. There are only two options before us if we want to solve our country’s problems: we can be slaves to tradition or we can think scientifically. Our long history complicates this choice; the hold that tradition has over us as a people is agonising. In Indian social contexts, it is tough to adapt old beliefs, habits and institutions to changing situations. Scientific thinking helps us determine the magnitude of such changes. And a scientific temper teaches us that no matter how glorious our past, it cannot solve the questions of a completely different time – the present or the future.

A convenient merger of slavery to tradition and scientific thinking is even more dangerous. For instance, we sing the praises of scientific thinking everywhere, from our textbooks to our Constitution. But the Notable Research awards of the National Science Congress go to heads of institutes of revelatory knowledge or to chartered accountants who write essays on astrology. The Science Congress does not feel the need to correct these errors even though several venerated scientists have objected to them. No one sees anything absurd in a governor who performs a prayer ceremony to propitiate the rains, or in prime ministers and presidents who, while ushering India into the twenty-first century, also fall at ring-producing Satya Sai Baba’s feet.

If we incorporate scientific thinking in education, our children can be taught to combine and make sense of various experiences, and to derive conclusions from them.

[…]

How do religious beliefs regulate everyday life? Many traditional ceremonies, rituals and practices in society, such as weddings, inheritance or adoption, are legitimated by religion. Private and communal prayer, fasts and vows are all religious inventions. Most of these observances are tied to the notion of an afterlife. Morality, including the concept of virtue, non-violence, truth, renunciation and stoicism, is also taught as a part of religion. Religious teaching , in addition, includes certain conceptions of the world and man’s place in it – usually anthropocentric ones. It also propagates its own brand of sociology and its own theories of social organisation.

Traditions and rituals, and moral and sociological theories are not separate parts of religion. Religion is created by the very interaction of these concepts. And thus all of this ‘religiosity’ has seeped into society, with considerable impact on the people holding these beliefs. 
What does our anti-superstition thinking reveal about religion? 

These rituals can be exploitative and meaningless. Until recently many people believed that if a girl did not marry before a certain age, her parents would be condemned to hell, and that the doors of heaven would close for them if they did not have a son to perform their last rites. A huge amount of rice is thrown over the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony. In Maharashtra alone, fifteen-twenty lakh kilos of rice are wasted every year in this manner, but even raising this issue is considered blasphemous. Daughters are ‘donated’ in a kanya daan as if they are goods, and this degrading practice is seen as a matter of pride. A widowed woman is kept away from her own son’s wedding for no fault of hers. When a family member dies, people coop themselves up inside their homes for a twelve-day period of mourning and feed the whole village on the thirteenth day, regardless of the debt they incur. All these beliefs and practices are products of religion. In the Muslim community, triple talaq makes getting rid of a wife very easy. Sometimes couples cannot adopt even if they are incapable of having children. Every religion calls a man’s wife his ‘other half’; not one supports the woman’s claim to half her husband’s property. Religion pervades every aspect of life; this is the reason our movement needs to raise questions about it. 

Which religious rituals should one follow? How does one please deities? How does one ensure happiness in the afterlife? These are personal questions for a believer, and religious individuals have the right to them. But what if, in pursuing religious goals, man is blinded to reason? Should we then respect his actions because they are religious?Should we not denounce them when they are inhuman? People have been known to run at the stone walls of temples, breaking their skulls on collision, simply to fulfil vows they made to God. They stab themselves in the back with a sharp knife or cut their own foreheads with a rusty one, tie themselves to a bullock cart which drags them along with it all day, tear open the sacrificial goat with their bare teeth, bathe their hands in buffalo blood and imprint it on the temple walls, walk on fire and roll about in the dirt around the temple. Less horrifically, they are constantly preoccupied with their aartis or namaz, and agonise over how many times they should recite the gayatri mantra, how severely to fast or whether to finish eating before sunset. People have a right to perform these rituals, of course, even if others find them pointless. Likewise, other people have a right to analyse and criticise them.

When a manufacturer of sweets donates tens of thousands of sweets to a Ganapati idol, should this act be condoned as freedom of worship? Is it acceptable for lakhs of people to gather to perform a yajna for world peace? Is the pouring of hundreds of litres of milk, ghee or honey on the ascetic Bahubali’s idol, in consonance with core religious values? Are meaningless, outdated fasts an essential part of religion? A banyan tree provides shade to a weary traveller but it can also fall and kill people when it is old and weak. How does tying a thread to a branch of this tree help increase one’s husband’s lifespan? What is the link between observing the Goddess Hartalika’s fast and acquiring a good husband?

One story that our society cannot accept any commentary on is the legend of the Satyanarayana puja. This is described in the Skanda Purana in two parts, which implies it was written around 300 CE to 400 CE. The purana says that Lord Vishnu prescribed this puja to Narada Muni as a way to earn the favour of the gods with minimum effort and money. Narada then narrated it to Suta Maharshi, who told it to Shaunaka Muni. The entirety of Hindu society is encompassed in this story. It characters include a Brahmin, King Tungadhwaj, the merchant Sadhuram and a woodcutter. These four represent the four castes of the varna system.

Sadhuram is a rich merchant. The merchant class, desirous of both preserving and increasing their wealth, is inclined to try and reap benefits from minimum investment in religious rituals. Therefore, while others in the kingdom observe the Satyanarayana puja once a year, Sadhuram is instructed to perform it every month.

The story openly uses the human motives of greed and fear to insist on the observance of this ritual. The woodcutter complies, and earns twice as usual on the day he performs the puja. Kings are unlikely to be tempted by such gains, so Tungadhwaj refuses to perform the rite. As a consequence of divine retribution, he loses his sons and risks losing his kingdom. Once he buckles and performs the puja, his former glory is restored. The merchant Sadhuram is shown to be alternately tempted and threatened. Among other things, he is accused of thievery and is thrown into prison, and eventually all his wealth disappears. Needless to say, everything is resolved when he finally performs the Satyanarayana puja.

As this story illustrates, this is a prayer that is performed purely for personal material gain. There is no element of alleviating human suffering and granting prosperity to all, as Vishnu is supposed to have promised in his narration to Narada. The saint Gadage Maharaj used to ridicule the story of Satyanarayana puja in front of assemblies of thousands. Indeed, rational people should not believe in or condone such rituals for obvious reasons, and religious people should balk at taking such an unabashed shortcut to personal well-being and gain. 
Yet, most people simply acquiesce in such observances. This is akin to keeping your brain aside and participating in a meaningless ritual.
The Satyanarayana prayer actually includes the verse which claims that the Brahmin was born out of Brahma’s mouth, the Kshatriya from his arm, the Vaishya from his thigh and the Shudra from his feet. How is this acceptable? We either accept the Indian Constitution or we accept this verse. Do we know what we are agreeing to when we nod silently as the priest chants? Is this ignorance or cognitive dissonance that is being cleverly exploited by religion?

Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist, author and activist from Maharashtra. A trained medical doctor, he founded and was president of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Through his writings and speeches, he emphasised the role of rational thinking. He was murdered on 20 August 2013, and triggered by his death, the long-pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in Maharashtra four days later. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.
 

Jai Vipra works on research and advocacy in technology policy, especially on digital monopolies, trade and finance. She is a rationalist and advocates for the rejection of all superstition, and for the use of science and technology for the emancipation of humanity from exploitation. She completed her Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford and is currently based in New Delhi.

These are excerpts from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper written by Narendra Dabholkar, translated by Jai Vipra and published by Context, Westland. Republished here with permission from the publisher.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The post “Scientific thinking requires independence of thought” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post 6 Years After Narendra Dhabolkar’s Assassination, Masterminds Remain Free appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist, author and activist from Maharashtra. A trained medical doctor, he founded and was president of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Through his writings and speeches, he emphasised the role of rational thinking. He was murdered on 20 August 2013, and triggered by his death, the long-pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in Maharashtra four days later. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.

Jai Vipra works on research and advocacy in technology policy, especially on digital monopolies, trade and finance. She is a rationalist and advocates for the rejection of all superstition, and for the use of science and technology for the emancipation of humanity from exploitation. She completed her Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford and is currently based in New Delhi.
These are excerpts from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper written by Narendra Dabholkar, translated by Jai Vipra and published by Context. Republished here with permission from the publisher.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The post Scientific temper is of fundamental importance to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 

The accused in the Narendra Dabholkar assassination case, Sharad Kalaskar, has confessed to have shot at the rationalist twice in Pune on August 20, 2013.

According to an NDTV report, Kalaskar told Karnataka Police how he shot the 67-year-old twice – once in the head from behind, and when he fell, once above the right eye. He also said that his companion, Andure, also shot Dabholkar, reported Deccan Herald. Andure is a member of the Right-wing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. 

The NDTV report said that in a “chilling” 14-page-confession, Kalaskar has also admitted to being linked to two other murders – that of communist leader Govind Pansare and journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.

As NewsClick had reported earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team had arrested Sachin Prakashrao Andure from Aurangabad on August 18, 2018, alleging that he was among those who shot Dabholkar. Andure was the fourth person to be arrested in the case. On June 20, 2014, Manish Nagori and Vilas Khandewal were arrested by Pune police.

Following a PIL filed by journalist Ketan Tirodkar, the CBI had taken over this case in May 2014, on the direction of the Bombay High Court. In May 2016, Virendra Tawde of Sanatan Sanstha (SS) was arrested in connection with the case. Along with Tawde, the CBI has named Vinay Pawar, who is missing since 2009, Sarang Akolkar, who is absconding in the October 2009 Goa blast case, as prime suspects. 

Sharad Kalaskar, who had confided to the Karnataka SIT that Sanjeev Punalekar had asked him to destroy evidence, was arrested by Maharashtra ATS in the Nalasopara case, and he was taken into custody by the CBI as he confided that he and Andure were involved in the killing of Dabholkar.

In his confession, Kalaskar has said that he was brainwashed by Virendra Tawade of SS to “kill all the evil people”—evil people here being the anti-Hindutva voices. Kalaskar had confided to the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating Gauri Lankesh’s case that Punalekar had asked him to destroy the guns used in assassinating Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh.  Punalekar, the lawyer of SS, along with his assistant Vikram Bhave were arrested by the CBI on May 25, 2019. 

It is after a long chase of six years that the CBI has managed to crack the case, and it has now established that it was an ideologically motivated political assassination. Every person arrested so far by the CBI, SIT of Karnataka and Maharashtra are directly or indirectly linked to SS and its splinter groups like Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS). Will Sanatan Sanstha be roped into the investigation? 

Sanatan Sanstha advocates violence as a tool for the “protection of religion” and establishing a Hindu Rashtra. A day after Dabholkar’s death, SS had published a statement by its founder, Jayant Athavale on its website. It read: “Births and deaths are predestined and everybody gets the fruit of their karma. Instead of dying bedridden t0hrough illness, or after some surgery, such a death for Dabholkar is a blessing of the Almighty.” Athavale added that though “Dabholkar was an atheist and did not believe in god, the same god would give solace to the departed soul.”

The Goa-based SS has the vision of establishing a “Hindu Rashtra” (a Hindu nation) and propagates extremist Hindutva ideology. The organisation gives a call to, in its founders’ words, “destroy evildoers if you have been advised by saints or Gurus to do so. Then, these acts are not registered in your name.” Those who oppose the idea of the Hindu Rashtra are the evildoers for the SS. The investigations have shown that the Sanstha and its volunteers are not likely to stop at this, and may be willing to kill many more voices that do not cheer for Hindutva – just like Kalaskar.

First published on Newsclick.in

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What Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the BJP’s Hindutva icon, said about religious books should completely shake those who think that scriptures are a gospel truth and shouldn’t be criticized, and there is nothing beyond them. Quoted by Narendra Dabholkar, a Pune-based rationalist who was shot dead allegedly by a Hindu fanatic on August 20, 2013, Savarkar had said, “The Vedas, the Avesta, the Bible and the Koran are but man-made tomes and should be studied accordingly…”

Quoted in yet-to-be-released English translation of his original book in Marathi, “The Case for Reason: Understanding the Anti-superstition Movement”, according to Savarkar, “The man who does not want to become just a telephone of religion and wants to possess a mind and intellect of his own, should overcome his belief in the ‘word’” and should “nurture the opinion” opinion that these “respectable ‘Books’” should not be judged on the basis of whether these are “useful” today or not.”

Asking in “the Indian nation” to “close the ‘book’ of the ancient era, forget the supremacy of shruti, smriti and the Puranas, keep them safely away in libraries and enter the age of science”, Savarkar insisted, “Those old tomes are relevant only for telling us what happened in the past. But the science that is objective and experimental alone qualifies as the basis for deciding what is appropriate for today.”

Savarkar continued, “Modernity contains the essence of all that was useful in past experiences; but the shruti-smriti-puranokta cannot have even a speck of modern knowledge. Therefore, we ought to be modern and up-to-date. Whether a thing is good or bad, and whether reform is beneficial or not should be answered, hereafter, only on the basis of one test, that is, whether it is useful or useless today. One should never ask the question whether something is sanctioned by the scriptures.”

Underling the need to take the lesson from what happened in Europe four centuries ago, when the continent “was similarly enslaved by the unalterable supremacy of religion”, Savarkar asserted, “But since the time Europe distanced itself from the Bible and adhered to science, it was freed from the shackles of ‘shruti-smriti-puranokta’ (codes of behaviour, morality, worship stipulated in religious tomes of supernatural origin) and became modern and up-to-date; Europe is now four thousand years ahead of us. It has conquered three continents!” 

The powerful Savarkar view has come to the limelight at a time when Punjab’s Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has proposed a bill, cleared by his Cabinet, which decided, to quote Singh, “on amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment”, calling it an example of his commitment “to preserve communal harmony in the state.”

Considering Savarkar a Hindu reformer alongside “Mahatma Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Lokahitavadi Agarkar, Dr Ambedkar, Prabodhankar Thakre and Gadge Baba”, all of them from Maharashtra, Dabholkar in his book sought to answer to a question a question being asked about the rationalist organization he headed, “Does Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANS) oppose only the Hindu religion?”. He said, an answer to this question is important because there is a deliberate effort at “discouraging ANS activists and spawning prejudice in the minds of people.”
Believed Dabholkar, what is important to understand is that Savarkar, along with these “Hindu reformers”, came to the fore in the course of the “evolution of Hindu religion”, and “dared to criticise superstitions mercilessly.” Thus, according to Dabholkar, “These great men, in fact, cautioned all humanity, not just one religion, to be humane and vigilant, but their teaching inadvertently largely addressed only the Hindus.”

Pointing towards why he quoted from Savarkar, Dabholkar said, this is because of “the ruthless examination of religious books undertaken by Savarkar”, who happened to be “the hero of the independence movement, and more importantly from our viewpoint, eulogised by his followers as the ‘ruler of Hindu hearts’,” adding, his was one of the “pitiless scrutiny of religious books”, illustrating “the long tradition of Hindu social reformers who endeavoured to eradicate superstitions.”

This article was first published in Counterview

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The voice of dissent is the biggest fear for the right wing

The post United, the Voice of Dissent Must be Heard: Megha Pansare on Gauri Lankesh’s Murder appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dr. Narendra Dabholkar
 

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