In her current speech, she told how she was willing to die during the demolition, and even repeated the derogatory and violence provoking slogan that had been raising by the Hindu karsevaks against the Muslim community. She further speaks about how she had raised the said slogan during a curfew, even as her extremist peers had warned her about the police arresting her, saying that on this fateful day she should be allowed to raise the said slogan and take pleasure in it.

The speech:

“Khood ke hataya bhi, aur uske baad humne uski deewar khadi ki. Iss sab mei humari bhoomika thi yeh humara saubhagya hai (we dug it up and removed it all, and then we also built a wall in its place. It was my honor that I was a part of that whole demolition.)”

“Lekin vaha jab bhaag daud hui, aur vaha bhi hungama shuru ho gaya. Hum sab jab jaa rahe the toh mere pitaji ne bola tha ab jaa rahe ho toh lautne ka moh nahi rakhna mann mei. Unhone kaha lautne ka moh mat rakhna mann mei samarpit hoke jao jo bhi hoga ab tum Ram ji ki ho. (people started running here and there at that time too. Before I had left my house, my father had told me that now that I am going there, I should not worry about coming back home. He had told me that do not think about coming back home, you belong to Lord Ram and you should be dedicated to him.)”

“Aur tabhi hum soch samajh kar gaye the ki jo kaam karenge jo prabhu Ram ji ka hoga, aur chale gaye toh bhi Ram ji ke hi honge. Isliye jab vaha phunche aur bach gaye, toh wapisi mei logo ne kaha naare nahi lagana naare nahi lagana pragya ji. Curfew lagg gaya tha buri tareeke se aur log bol rahe the naare nahi lagana police pakad legi, par humne vahi zor zor ke naare lagaye. (When I had gone there, I had already accepted the fact that whatever acts I commit there will be for Lord Ram, and even if I die, that will be for Lord Ram. That is why, when we got saved there, and while we were returning, people told me to not raise any slogans. A very strict curfew had been imposed, people told me that the police might arrest me if I raise any slogan, but I started raising slogan there and then only)”

She repeats the derogatory slogan calling for the genocide of Muslims in the name of Lord Ram in front of the whole audience as they cheered her.

“Maine kaha aaj bhi naare nahi lagwane doge kya aaj toh anand lene do aaram se. mandir toh vahi banega aaj toh naare lagane do (I told them that I want to take pleasure in raising these slogan today. The Ayodhya Ram temple will be constructed there only, today atleast I should be able to raise these slogans.)

The video can be viewed here:

Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

BJP leader and Member of Parliament Pragya Singh Thakur delivers anti-Muslim hate speech.

pic.twitter.com/50SMplHMj7

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 12, 2023

Even during the year 2019, in an exclusive interview with AajTak, Sadhvi Pragya had openly said, “Why would we regret the demolition of the Babri Masjid? We are, in fact, proud of it. There were some waste products of the Ram temple and we removed it. This has awakened the self-respect of our country and we will construct a grand Ram temple.” She had also said that 26/11 Mumbai terror attack martyr Hemant Karkare was killed as she had cursed him for “falsely implicating her in the 2008 Malegaon blast case”.

She had said, “Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me [in Malegaon blasts] and treated me very badly. I told him your entire dynasty will be erased. He died of his karma.” Thakur was contesting for her Lok Sabha candidature from Bhopal at the time of making these statements, and had also received two notices from the Election Commission for making the above-mentioned remarks. Notably, the state of Madhya Pradesh is going into elections at the end of this year, for which Thakur is resorting to spreading hatred and her divisive ideologies to keep the public boiling and securing votes for the BJP party.

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The post Terror accused BJP MP Pragya Thakur delivers hate speech in Bhopal, recalls her role in demolition of Babri Masjid appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a shocking statement attempting to legitimise the highly discriminatory caste system, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Thakur attempted to advocate for the Varna system at a Kshatriya Mahasabha in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh on December 12, 2020.

Thakur said that while the society has been divided into four categories by the ‘dharmashatra’ (social treatise) only the ‘Shudra’ caste is hurt by its own label because of their “ignorance” regarding the social system.

“If Kshatriyas are called Kshatriyas, they do not feel bad. But when Shudras are called Shudras, they are hurt. Why? Because they do not understand,” she said.

Her speech garnered considerable criticism on Twitter:

How many terrorism cases have you been charged with, again? https://t.co/VXo9CVNiVK

— Shiladitya Pandit (@panditsTOI) December 14, 2020

मनुवाद की खेती की उपज प्रज्ञा के इस बोल से कागज के तथाकथित पिछड़े जाति के प्रधानमंत्री को शूद्र ठीक लगेगा? आरएसएस और भाजपा की विचारधारा भारत के समाज को किस तरह देखती है यह समझने के लिए भाजपा सांसद का बयान काफी है। बाकी हिंदुत्व और राष्ट्रवाद का सिरप पीने वालों से क्या ही उम्मीद। https://t.co/215ooE5JUo

— Amit Singh (@SabkaSamar) December 14, 2020

मनुवाद की खेती की उपज प्रज्ञा के इस बोल से कागज के तथाकथित पिछड़े जाति के प्रधानमंत्री को शूद्र ठीक लगेगा? आरएसएस और भाजपा की विचारधारा भारत के समाज को किस तरह देखती है यह समझने के लिए भाजपा सांसद का बयान काफी है। बाकी हिंदुत्व और राष्ट्रवाद का सिरप पीने वालों से क्या ही उम्मीद। https://t.co/215ooE5JUo

— Amit Singh (@SabkaSamar) December 14, 2020

Aside from this short excerpt, Thakur went on to say that people should choose professions based on their caste and encouraged the women present to “understand their duties and produce more and more children to induct them into the Armed Forces so that they can fight for the nation and strengthen its security.”

Never mind that the Architect of the Indian Constitution Babasaheb B. R. Ambedkar, social reformers Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule, social activist Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy, religious icon Gautam Buddha and many other Indian personalities spent their lives fighting these very tenants of the caste system.

During her speech, Thakur also attacked the ongoing farmers’ protest calling protesters “anti-nationals.” She argued that those people are not farmers but Congressmen and Leftists in the garb of farmers who raise their voice against the country and spread misinformation.

Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha told the Indian Express that Thakur’s “own people” had organised the event.

Thakur’s insistence to offer reservation on the basis of economic backwardness rather than caste indicates her own origin from the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindutva party to which her father belonged that promoted caste discrimination.

The MP is an accused in the Malegaon bombings of 2008 wherein 10 people were killed and 82 injured. She is also under trial for charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) although unlike most political activists detained under this Act, Thakur was granted bail on medical grounds.

In 2019, she joined the BJP and since then has made many insensitive remarks that have been widely condemned by Indian society. During the Lok Sabha elections, Thakur claimed that former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare died during the 26/11 attacks because she cursed him for not treating her well during her arrest. Later, she called Nathuram Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi “a patriot.”

During elections, she boasted of participating in the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992, an incident that severely affected the Hindu-Muslim relations in the country and later on went on to say that ‘cow urine’ – a liquid held in high-regard by Hindutva elements – cures cancer.

Each of her statements specifically cater to right-wing notions of Hindutva from trying to reinstitute the caste system to boasting open hatred towards the Muslim community.

Her recent comments now raise a question as to why a person who makes such caustic remarks is allowed to hold the post of a Member of Parliament.

Related:

We always planned to demolish Babri Masjid: Jai Bhagwan Goyal

Scapegoats and Holy Cows

Bhopal BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Calls Godse ‘Patriot’ Again, Praises Gandhi

Malegaon blast case: Court rejects Pragya’s plea seeking exemption from appearing for trail

The post Why not call ‘lower castes’ by their name wonders BJP MP Pragya Thakur appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Expressing his sharp disapproval of BJP’s  decision to nominate a terror accused from the Bhopal seat, Akhtar said, “Don’t go by her appearance. Just because a person looks like a saint doesn’t mean the person is a saint. Don’t forget that when Ravana came to abduct Sita, he too was dressed like a saint.” Akhtar was speaking at a press conference in Bhopal on May 2.

Further hitting out at BJP’s ‘poor choice’ of candidate, Akhtar said, “You (BJP) should have looked for a place which is inhabited by illiterate, communal people and made her contest from there. Democracy can only flourish if there is a clear demarcation between the state and religion.”

Warning the BJP against mixing religion with politics, Akhtar emphasized that countries where state and religion work together, democracy can never work. He then went on to cite the examples of the Middle-East and Latin America.

The complainant has alleged that Akhtar had intentionally made objectionable remarks against Pragya in order to provoke the voters. The complaint also mentions about another statement by Akhtar wherein he said that not all saffron clad people are sadhus, similarly Sadhvi Pragya also isn’t a sadhu.

The petitioner has requested the court to act against Akhtar under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with defamation. The hearing is scheduled for May 24.

Akhtar had earlier drawn ire from the right-wing Hindu extremists after he said that ghoonghats and burqas are the same so both should be banned. Responding to the demand for banning burqa in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna, Akhtar had said, “There is a controversy over the burqa. Iran is a hardliner Muslim country, but women don’t cover their faces there. A new law in Sri Lanka bars women from covering their faces. Whatever is your attire, the face should be visible.” Adding further, he said, “If someone wants this kind of law here, and if this is somebody’s opinion I don’t have any objection. But before the end of last phase of elections, the government must announce that no woman will be allowed to use ghoonghat in Rajasthan. Faces covered with the burqa or the ghoonghat, it’s the same. If both would be removed, I would be happy.”

Rajput Karni Sena, a Rajasthan-based organisation, issued death threats to Akhtar over these comments. Jivan Singh Solanki, president of the Maharashtra wing of the Karni Sena, published a video in which he is heard saying, “We will gouge out your eyes and pull out your tongue if you don’t apologise. We will enter your house and beat you.” Warning Akhtar of dire consequences if he doesn’t apologise, Solanki said, “The burqa is associated with terrorism and (is a question of) national security. We have asked Akhtar to render an apology within three days or face the consequences.”

Later, Akhtar clarified his statement by tweeting, “Some people are trying to distort my statement. I have said that may be in Sri Lanka it is done for security reasons but actually it is required for women empowerment. covering the face should be stopped whether naqab or ghoonghat.”

Akhtar showed neutrality by saying that Congress president Rahul Gandhi hadn’t done anything to prove that he is capable of becoming a prime minister. He then praised BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee but expressed discontent with PM Modi and called BJP president Amit Shah his “assistant.”

With every passing day, expressing dissent or speaking against the ruling government makes one appear as ‘anti-national.’ This is posing a severe threat on our constitutional freedom of speech and expression. Such judicial actions and threats by people close to the party affects the democratic structure and the foundation of our nation.

Related Articles:

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2. Opinion: Why are Muslims blamed for the crimes committed against them?
3. Hindutva Poses the Greatest Threat to Women

The post Criminal Defamation Suit Filed Against Javed Akhtar For Comparing Sadhvi Pragya to Ravana appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: PTI
 
In a rare show of courage when the Indian mainstream is blinded by majoritarianism, a former police officer who was at the forefront of the fight against Sikh separatists has come out openly against growing Hindutva terrorism.
 
Sarbdeep Singh Virk, who generally goes by the name SS Virk, says that if Sikh extremism was wrong then so is the extremism in the name of majoritarian Hindu state.
 
Virk who was assigned the Maharashtra cadre after passing the civil services examinations was sent on deputation to Punjab during 1980s when the latter province was facing growing security threat from Sikh separatists. Though a Sikh himself, Virk was determined to take the challenge and got injured during a fight with the militants in 1988. He eventually rose to become the Director General of Police. This was a time when Sikh militants ran a parallel administration in Punjab and were fighting an armed struggle for a separate homeland of Khalistan. The movement was ultimately brought to an end by mid 1990s by the police that used repressive measures and eliminated many extremist leaders in fake encounters.
 
Due to internal departmental rivalries and political interference, Virk was charged for corruption, but was rescued by the Maharashtra government. He was not only repatriated to Maharashtra, but ended up becoming the police chief of the state before his retirement in 2009.
 
He was back in the news after he wrote a column critical of Hindutva terror in Indian Express.
 
This was in reaction to the recent nomination of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur as a candidate for the ruling right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) from Bhopal.
 
Thakur, a highly controversial ascetic was charged for her involvement in a bomb blast in 2008 that claimed six lives and injured 100 people. The target of the attack was a Muslim dominated area. She is associated with a group that believes in political Hinduism or Hindutva and wants to turn India into Hindu theocracy through violent means. Currently on bail, she is still facing trial. 
 
Thakur’s arrest was followed by an investigation by another police officer the late Hemant Karkare who served as the Chief of Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police. Karkare came under attack for smashing a module of the Hindu terror network. So much so, the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat back then publicly insulted Karkare who was called anti-national and anti-Hindu by the BJP supporters.  This was despite the fact that Karkare was a practising Hindu and had never compromised in dealing firmly with Muslim extremists either.
 
In November 2008, he died fighting with Muslim extremists who had attacked Mumbai. Ironically, Karkare turned into a martyr overnight even for the Hindutva groups. Modi had offered a huge monetary award to his widow, Kavita Karkare who refused to accept it.
 
Kavita had died later because of brain haemorrhage. Many believe it was the result of the emotional stress she was dealing with ever since right-wing extremists began hounding her husband. 
 
Modi is not only instrumental in nominating Thakur to run for the parliament, he has shamelessly defended her saying that the whole case against her was motivated and designed to give Hindus a bad name by the previous centrist Congress government.
 
Emboldened by the gestures of Modi government, Pragya went to the extent of saying that she had cursed Karkare which led to his death.
 
These developments had disturbed Virk who had heard first hand from Karkare about his dispassionate and honest investigation into the growing threat of Hindutva terrorism. 
 
Virk then decided to write a column to defend his colleague whose professional integrity has come under question. He pulled no punches to criticize those who were patronizing Thakur and majoritarian terrorism.
 
He told this writer that it is the duty of every secular Indian to stand up for an upright police officer who was just doing his job and cannot defend himself.
 
On being asked what he thinks of the Indian state that gave extra-judicial powers to the police to decimate Khalistani extremists, while openly patronizing Hindutva terrorists, Virk clearly said that if what Sikh extremists were doing in Punjab was wrong, then what Hindutva radicals are doing is also unacceptable. He added that just because they belong to the majority community does not give them a right to spread hatred and the law should be the same for everyone.
 
Expressing his frustration at the political patronage people like Thakur are enjoying under the current regime, he only said that if those who are supposed to protect the law decide to violate and break it what can one really say?
 

The post Former Punjab police speaks out against Sadhvi Pragya’s candidature and Hindutva terrorism appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Though Thakur had apologised for her comment on Karkare, the EC found them “unwarranted”. An FIR has also been filed against her under section 188 (disobedience to a public servant’s order) of the Indian Penal Code. “…the Commission has carefully gone through the contents and averments made in the aforesaid reply of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and found it provocative and also on religious lines that have the propensity of spreading hatred among various communities…,” the order read.

Karkare was leading the investigating team of the 2008 Malegaon Blast case in which Sadhvi Pragya is a key accused. She had said, “Maine kaha tha tera sarvanash hoga (I cursed and wished that he would be finished),” and, “An inauspicious period started for Hemant Karkare when I was arrested. Exactly 45 days later he was killed and that was the end of the inauspicious period.”  EC had served a notice for the same.

However, Sadhvi Pragya continued with her outrageous remarks. On April 20, Thakur had said, “Ram Mandir hum banayenge aur bhavya banayenge, hum todne gaye the dhancha, maine chadhkar toda tha dhancha, iss par mujhe bhayankar garv hai. Mujhe Ishwar ne shakti di thi humne desh ka kalank mitaya hai” (A grand Ram temple will be built. I had gone to demolish the structure and had climbed atop it to break the structure. I am tremendously proud of this. God gave me the strength to wipe off a blot on this country). EC then issued a second notice.

Though the EC has been praised for the ban, opposition parties are yet demanding for Sadhvi’s nomination to be cancelled owing to the severe criminal charges against her.

The Congress candidate from Bhopal, Digvijaya Singh, welcomed the order. “It is natural when the BJP fields (a person) accused of terrorism and those (who) indulge in the politics of communal hatred. It would be better that the nomination of such candidates was cancelled for safeguarding the ideals of democratic values,” he tweeted.

Thakur said she would appeal the decision. “I will abide by the law. Legal experts are looking into the EC decision. I will appeal against the same,” she said.

The ban has come into force from 06.00 am on Thursday morning.

Related Articles:

1. Election 2019: BJP’s fielding of Sadhvi Pragya advances their Hindutva agenda
2. Sadhvi Pragya says she was “proud” of Babri demolition, gets EC notice
3. PM Modi Defends Malegaon Blast Accused Sadhvi Pragya’s Candidature

The post EC Imposes a 72-hour Ban on BJP’s Bhopal Candidate Sadhvi Pragya for her Controversial Remarks on Karkare and Babri Masjid Demolition appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The number of security personnel around her have increased along with an enhanced security at her residence.

Sadhvi Pragya has been in the eye of a storm after her nomination. Controversy broke out on her outrageous remarks on the 26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare when she said that he died because of her curse and another statement where she said she is proud of the Babri Masjid demolition. Later, a notice was issued by the Election Commission.

Despite all this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended her candidature by saying, “..Without any evidence, a rich civilization as old as 5000 years, which gave the message of ‘the whole world is one’… You called such a civilization terrorist? To give a reply to all such people, this is a symbol and this symbol will cost Congress dearly.”

Sadhvi Pragya’s nomination seems like an attempt by the right-wing supremacist party, BJP, to promote its Hindutva agenda. Providing such high security to a person with severe criminal charges reflect the party’s desperation to protect its significant ‘symbol of Hinduism.’
Thakur, who is out on bail, is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast in which 7 people including a 15 year old boy had died. She will contest against Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh from the Bhopal seat on May 12.
 
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3. 3.Election 2019: BJP’s fielding of Sadhvi Pragya advances their Hindutva agenda
4. 4.Sadhvi Pragya says she was “proud” of Babri demolition, gets EC notice
5. A Tale of Two Vehicles – Sadhvi’s Motorcycle and Rubina’s Car

The post Malegaon Blast Accused Sadhvi Pragya may get Z-Security appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The ex-officials have expressed their sharp disapproval of the ruling party’s decision to nominate a terror accused who soon after her nomination passed some controversial and communal statements. The letter reads, “We write to express our disbelief and dismay at the candidature of Pragya Thakur for the Bhopal LokSabha seat. This decision could have been dismissed as yet another example of political expediency but for the enthusiastic endorsement by no less a person than the Prime Minister of India, who has termed her candidature as a symbol of our civilisational heritage.”

The former civil servants have also condemned Thakur’s remarks on former ATS chief HemantKarkare who was martyred in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. On April 19, at a rally in Bhopal, Thakur had claimed that Karkare died because of her curse. HemantKarkare was leading investigations into the Malegaon blast case where Thakur is one of the key accused. Her comments have drawn scathing criticism from several quarters, especially the IPS Association that tweetedsaying,“Ashok Chakra awardee late Sri HemantKarkare, IPS made the supreme sacrifice fighting terrorists. Those of us in uniform condemn the insulting statement made by a candidate and demand that sacrifices of all our martyrs be respected.”

The letter also urges all citizens to join the ex-officials in condemning unequivocally, the statement of Pragya Thakur; Demanding that the BJP withdraw her candidature; Reminding the Prime Minister of his oath to uphold Constitutional values and appealing to him to take the lead in putting an end to the climate of fear and intimidation and communal viciousness that seems to be permeating the entire electoral process.

SadhviPragya Thakur is currently facing trial for terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act: Sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) and under the IPC for murder, criminal conspiracy and promoting enmity between communities. Fielding of such a candidate who is infamous for her communal activism and who has such grave criminal charges reflects the ruling party’s sole agenda of promoting its Hindutva ideology.
 
Related Articles:
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2.SadhviPragya says she was “proud” of Babri demolition, gets EC notice
3.Mumbaikar’s to protest Insult to HemantKarkare
4.PM Modi Defends Malegaon Blast Accused SadhviPragya’s Candidature
 
 

The post Former Indian Civil Servants Demand Withdrawal of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s Nomination from Bhopal appeared first on SabrangIndia.

During the hearing, per ANI, the lawyer for the intervenor contended that Thakur was not attending court proceedings on the grounds that she was unwell, but was campaigning for the election, during which she did not look ill. Per Scroll, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had expressed a similar sentiment last week, saying “If her health is not good enough to stay in jail, how can she be fit enough to fight polls?” He had tweeted, “What a mockery of the legal system the BJP has made with its candidate for Indore! A person, an under-trial, who stands accused of terrorism; out on bail on health grounds but clearly healthy enough to fight elections in the crippling summer heat. Hindutva rules!” 

The announcement of Thakur contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal has sparked controversy, first, because Thakur is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, and also given her multiple provocative remarks, first targeting slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and then about the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) announcement of her candidature, Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, 59, of Malegaon, Nashik, filed an intervention application in the special NIA court in an effort to restrain Thakur from contesting in the election, Live Law reported on April 18. Bilal’s son, Sayyed Azhar Nisar Ahmed was killed in the September 2008 blast that occurred in Bhukku Chowk, Malegaon; it claimed at least six lives, and resulted in 101 people being wounded, Scroll reported. Per Live Law, Thakur has been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Arms Act in the case. 

In his application, Bilal contended that Thakur was granted bail under the pretext that is ill, and “a patient of breast cancer”; the application says that, in fact, Thakur has been taking part in multiple programmes and issuing “objectionable and instigating speeches” since she was released from prison, Live Law reported. 

In her response to Bilal’s application, Thakur told the NIA court on Tuesday, April 23, that the pending trial “was no bar for her from contesting the election,” The Hindu reported, adding that Thakur argued that the Representation of the People Act, 1951 does not have a provision that prohibits a candidate with a criminal case against them from contesting elections. Thakur made note of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, under which she has submitted an affidavit detailing all pending cases against, and said, “Criminal jurisprudence clearly says that unless a person is convicted, he shall be deemed to be innocent,” The Hindu reported. Thakur also responded to Bilal’s “allegation about her non-attendance in court,” explaining that she was unwell, and underwent a surgery for breast cancer following her release on bail. She also “sought exemplary cost to be imposed upon the intervenor for filing a frivolous application, ‘taking liberty with the truth and abusing process of law,’” Live Law reported.

The NIA also filed its response on Tuesday, stating, “The NIA has no jurisdiction to say anything on this matter because the matter of contesting election is not related to this case. It is to be decided by the Election Commission only,” the Hindustan Times reported, adding that the NIA claimed that the subject of Thakur’s bail cancellation is pending with the Supreme Court. Per The Hindu, the agency’s reply also noted that it had issued  Thakur a clean chit, and “had recommended in the 2016 chargesheet that there is no evidence to prosecute” her. 
 

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The post Mumbaikar’s to protest Insult to Hemant Karkare appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The crime
On September 29, 2008 there was a bomb explosion in a crowded locality of Malegaon. The explosion occurred opposite the Shakil Goods Transport Company, located between Anjuman Chowk and Bhiku Chowk, a busy and populous part of town. The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) fitted on an LML Freedom motorcycle bearing the registration number MH-15-4572. Six persons were killed as a result of the explosion and 101 persons sustained various degrees of injuries. Property worth Rs 4,23,500 was also destroyed. The IED was assembled using RDX, ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrite.

This act was the handiwork of a group of conspirators whose ultimate aim, according to the ATS charge sheet in the Malegaon case, was to “propagate a separate Hindu Rashtra with its own constitution and aims and with Bharat Swarajya, Surajya, Suraksha, in its preamble”. The charge sheet goes on to say that members of “this organised crime syndicate wanted to adopt a national flag i.e. solo-themed saffron flag with a golden border. The length of the flag would be twice its breadth, with an ancient golden torch (bhagwa dhwaj)”.

The charge sheet filed by the ATS runs into 4,528 pages. It contains two confessional statements of accused Rakesh Dhawade and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Swami Dayanand Pandey, a list of 431 witnesses the prosecution wishes to examine and forensic evidence. The ATS has also included telephone, audio and video transcripts running into hundreds of pages. A total of 14 persons have been named as accused in the crime and arrests began in October 2008. Three of the 14 accused are absconding.
 
The conspirators
1. Sadhvi Pragnyasingh Chandra-
palsingh Thakur alias Swami Purnachetanand Giri (38), originally from Madhya Pradesh but living in Surat, Gujarat. A member of the VHP’s Durga Vahini and a former member of the ABVP, Pragnya Thakur is closely associated with BJP leaders and has participated in their election campaign meetings as well.
2. Shivnarayan Gopalsingh Kalsangra (36), a native of Madhya Pradesh and living in Indore.
3. Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu (42) from Madhya Pradesh.
4. Ramesh Shivji Upadhyaya (57) from Uttar Pradesh. He organised camps and training modules to ideologically and physically draw young men into violence. (The fact that Upadhyaya is a retired officer of the Indian army is not mentioned in the charge sheet.)
5. Sameer Sharad Kulkarni (39), a resident of Pune but originally from Jalgaon in Maharashtra. A former ABVP member, Kulkarni revived the Abhinav Bharat in Pune. He worked at a Bhopal printing press for some time and was in charge of Abhinav Bharat’s activities in Madhya Pradesh.
6. Ajay alias Raja Eknath Rahirkar (39), living in both Pune and Jalgaon. He was Abhinav Bharat’s Pune-based treasurer who provided logistical and financial support to Kulkarni and Purohit.
7. Rakesh Dattatraya Dhawade alias Rao (42) from Pune district. He is an arms expert linked to Abhinav Bharat.
8. Jagdish Chintaman Mhatre (40) from Dombivli, Thane.
9. Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit alias Balawant Rao alias Shreyak Ranadive (36), living in Pune and Panchmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. This is the first time that a serving army officer has been accused in a terror attack. Purohit is charged with providing training, coordinating the blasts, sourcing funds and arranging for the explosives. Being an army officer, he operated under at least two aliases.
10. Sudhakar Udaybhan Dhar Dwivedi alias Swami Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amrutanand Devtirth alias Shankaracharya of Sharada Sarvagy Peeth (40), a native of Jammu living in Uttar Pradesh. A self-styled ‘Dharma Guru’, Dwivedi was also guru to the Sadhvi, Pragnya Thakur. There are possible indications that could link Dwivedi to the Kanpur blast in October and the Jammu agitation over the Amarnath shrine last year.
11. Sudhakar Onkarnath Chaturvedi (37), a resident of Nashik but originally from Uttar Pradesh.

Absconding accused:
12. Ramchandra Gopalsingh Kalsangra (38) from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The person responsible for planting the explosives at Malegaon, Ramchandra Kalsangra was in constant touch with Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur and coordinated the blasts.
13. Sandeep Vishwas Dange, from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
14. Pravin Mutalik, a resident of Karnataka.
Sections Applied: Sections 302, 307, 326, 324, 427, 153A, 153A(1)(b) and 120B of the IPC read with Sections 3, 4, 5 and 25 of the Arms Act 1959 read with Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosive Substances Act 1908 read with Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 20 and 23 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act 2004 read with Sections 3(1)(i), 3(1)(ii), 3(2), 3(4) and 3(5) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) 1999.
The police are also on the lookout for Swami Ashim Anand from the Dangs district in Gujarat who has been absconding since the day news leaked out that the ATS was on the hunt for him. If caught, fresh details about the plot might be revealed along with possible links to the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad, blasts as well as the blasts on the Samjhauta Express.
This crime syndicate procured and transported the materials required for the bomb explosions… These acts are often committed in areas where there is a dense population of Muslims. The supposed justification for these actions is revenge for acts committed by the Muslim community

Unlawful assembly
The terror ring held meetings at various places i.e. Faridabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore, Nashik, etc to plan their conspiracy under the banner of Abhinav Bharat, which was concurrently propagating its idea of a Hindu nation to be established through a takeover by the army.

To further this larger conspiracy, a meeting was held at Faridabad on January 25-26, 2008 at which the accused Prasad Srikant Purohit, Ramesh Upadhyaya and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were present. At the meeting Srikant Purohit took on the responsibility for providing the explosives while Sudhakar Chaturvedi took on the responsibility for providing two men who would set off a blast at an unspecified location. Chaturvedi also offered the use of his house at Vanat Chawl, Bhagur Road, Deolali camp, Nashik, as a location where the IED could be assembled and stored. The keys to Chaturvedi’s house were kept at the Military Intelligence (MI) office at the Deolali camp, Nashik. Purohit had asked Pravin Mutalik (an absconding accused) to collect the keys from the MI office at Deolali so as to enter Chaturvedi’s house for the purpose of assembling the IED which was finally used to explode bombs at Malegaon.

At a similar meeting held in Bhopal on April 11-12, 2008 the conspirators, Pragnya Thakur, Ramesh Upadhyaya, Sameer Kulkarni, Srikant Purohit, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey and Sudhakar Chaturvedi among others, together plotted to take revenge against Muslims in Malegaon by exploding a bomb in a densely populated area. Srikant Purohit took on the responsibility for providing the explosives while Pragnya Thakur took on the responsibility for providing men to carry out the explosion. It was at this meeting that all the participants decided to carry out the explosion at Malegaon.

Around June 11, 2008 another meeting was held, this time at the Circuit House in Indore. At this meeting Pragnya Thakur introduced Ramchandra Kalsangra (an absconding accused) and Sandeep Dange to Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, saying that both these persons were her confidants and had always supported her. Sometime in the first week of July 2008, at another meeting in Indore, Pragnya Thakur asked Dwivedi to direct Srikant Purohit to give the explosives to Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange in Pune.
 
Unravelling a conspiracy
The ATS has held that all the accused persons were part of a criminal conspiracy operating through meetings held in different parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh between January 2008 and October 23, 2008, the object of which was to commit unlawful acts in furtherance of the criminal conspiracy.

The charge sheet states that the organised crime syndicate has been active since the year 2003; a key member of this syndicate, arrested accused Rakesh Dattatraya Dhawade, has been active since then. Rakesh Dhawade was among those present at an oath-taking ceremony of members of Abhinav Bharat that was held at Raigad Fort in 2006, which Srikant Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar also attended. Dhawade and the organised crime syndicate had been carrying out bomb blasts since 2003. All the accused also joined this syndicate and continued its unlawful activities. Dhawade was involved in procuring arms and ammunition for the group. This organised crime syndicate procured, acquired and transported the materials that were required for the bomb explosions and also transferred vast amounts of money, arms and ammunition used to carry out its unlawful activities. These unlawful acts are often committed in areas where there is a dense population of Muslims. The supposed justification for these actions is revenge for acts committed by the Muslim community.
 
Missing links
Army and intelligence links
The most dangerous trend revealed by the Nanded investigations and reconfirmed now in the Malegaon probe is the involvement of both serving and retired officers of Indian intelligence agencies and the Indian army in training outfits that are ideologically opposed to the Indian Constitution, in the making of bombs, in generating terror and in spreading bitter communal poison.

A serving officer and four retired officers of the Indian armed forces have already been shown up for their links to various recent acts of terror. The Malegaon charge sheet implicates Purohit and Upadhyaya in the crime. But Col (retd) S. Raikar, a former Indian army officer and until recently the commandant of the Bhonsala Military School, Nashik, who made the school campus available for training terror groups, was questioned by the police but has been spared in the ATS charge sheet. He has since resigned from his position at the Bhonsala Military School.

The earlier charge sheet(s) of 2006 (prepared by the ATS Maharashtra) in the Nanded blast case implicate Sanatkumar Bhate in training members of the Bajrang Dal at the Akanksha Resort at Sinhgad near Pune. Bhate is a former officer in the Indian navy. A legitimate follow-up to this would be to probe the true depth of ideological infiltration into the Indian armed forces, of ideologies that seek to establish a religion-based state through violent means. The ATS does not mention the positions or former positions that some of the accused have held in the armed forces. Does this omission by the ATS stem from a reluctance to track the role of army and navy officers in unconstitutional acts? The ATS has also not probed the involvement of any army officials in these crimes. Those army men who were questioned have been given a clean chit and been named only as witnesses.

Lt Col Purohit procured the RDX (research department explosive) used in the blast while he was posted in Jammu and Kashmir. He stored it in his homes in Pune and Nashik. The transcripts included as part of the charge sheet implicate Purohit in at least two other similar incidents whereas the ATS charge sheet limits itself to the Malegaon incident alone. In these transcripts Purohit said, “Main kuch baat kahunga isse pehle kabhi nahi kahi gayi thi. Do operation humne kiye, successful ho gaye. Operation karne ki meri kshamta hain, swamiji. Mere paas equipment ki kami nahi hain. Main equipment paida kar sakta hoon. Equipment la sakta hoon. Agar jab thaan leta hoon. Lekin target chunna yeh mere ek ke vishay ke hisaab nahi hona chahiye (I will say something that I have not spoken of before. We have carried out two operations in the past and they were successful. I am capable of carrying out operations. I have more than enough equipment. Getting equipment is easy… But choosing the target should not be my decision alone).”
In this probe, the ATS has also failed to question many of the conspirators who plotted a Hindutva takeover of the country. For instance, reference is made to a two-time BJP parliamentarian named Col Dhar and a Delhi-based doctor, RP Singh, who were actively engaged in giving shape to Purohit’s idea of a “new nation”. The probable links of the accused with others who currently occupy influential political positions have not been probed further.

The ATS also stops short of drawing the wider link to the larger network of terror that resulted in the Nanded blast of 2006 and the Malegaon blast in 2008. While it has included the Parbhani and Jalna mosque blasts within the wider conspiracy, Nanded is mysteriously absent.
 
Bhonsala Military School, Akanksha Resort spared
The Bhonsala Military School, located at two places in Maharashtra (Nashik and Nagpur), which were the locations used for training cadres in bomb-making and the use of explosives, has escaped the ATS net. So has the Akanksha Resort at the Sinhgad Fort, Pune, where such training in explosives creation possibly takes place even today.

While some of the school’s functionaries have been cited as witnesses, the ATS has given the institute lenient treatment. This despite the fact that a top functionary of the school, Col (retd) S. Raikar, the then commandant of the Bhonsala Military School, Nashik, and a former officer of the Indian army, is accused of making available the campus where these groups were trained. Raikar himself has only been made a witness.

Materials used
RDX was used in the IEDs exploded at Malegaon. Another disturbing trend over the past few years or so is the leakage and consequent availability of highly controlled and dangerous substances like RDX in the marketplace for easy use by any outfits that wish to make a career out of bomb-making. In India, RDX is only legally available to the Indian army. Yet there have been reported cases of RDX leakage in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, which have been treated casually by the state police. Gelatine sticks and ammonium nitrate, volatile substances that are often used in the making of bombs, are carefully controlled in law and leakages from both industrial and retail users should be very easy to trace. The ATS charge sheet in the Malegaon case avoids any investigation into the leakage of these explosive substances.

The fact that this has not been done in any blast-related cases, be it the Samjhauta Express, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Thane or Panvel, establishes not just the laxity in our investigating agencies. It underscores the cynicism of a political class, across party lines, that places a tragically low premium on life itself and uses communalism of all hues to further electoral gain.
 
The missing Mithun Chakraborty
The Malegaon investigation also reveals in its forensic laboratory reports that a person who went by the name of Mithun Chakraborty, after a training session with recruits, handed over a bag containing large quantities of RDX to conspirators at the Pune railway station. Investigators have concluded that this is an assumed name. Chakraborty is untraceable and the ATS’s failure to trace him remains a gaping hole in their investigations.

The name of a mysterious trainer, Mithun Chakraborty first surfaced during the interrogation and narco analysis test of Rahul Pande, a key suspect in the 2006 Nanded blast investigations who revealed that a tall well-built man identified as Chakraborty alias Sir was the main conspirator in the plot. Pande also stated that Chakraborty had trained right-wing Hindu militants to prepare various kinds of bombs and IEDs and had even procured and provided them with large quantities of explosives to make more bombs.
 
Organisations spared
What is Abhinav Bharat? The ATS charge sheet tells us that the Abhinav Bharat is an organisation floated in 2007. The charge sheet claims this organisation is not the same as the public charitable trust registered in the same name even though its founder, Himani Savarkar, was present at one of the meetings the conspirators held! Savarkar is on record as stating her concurrence with the actions of the Malegaon accused and justifies her position with the assertion that “only bombs can reply to bombs”. The ATS’s assertion – that the two organisations bearing the same name and sworn to the same ideology are unconnected – rings hollow.
 
Why was Section 125 not applied?
The crime syndicate has among other things also advocated the overthrow of the Indian republic bound by the Indian Constitution in favour of a Hindu nation under army rule. These chilling visions of the syndicate’s dream future are clearly revealed in the Malegaon charge sheet. This vision was advocated in public and secret meetings to fire youngsters and urge them to enlist in the cause. The ideology that drives the conspirators is not only manifest in ‘retaliatory’ acts of bomb terror, such as the attack in Malegaon, but also goes to the very foundation of the republic itself. The transcripts describe extensive mobilisation of young cadres by the conspirators and others, in public, to generate anger against the Indian Constitution and advocate the overthrow of the Indian republic. If these acts do not amount to sedition, what does?

Despite detailed transcripts of conversations between Purohit and others that reveal commitment to the overthrow of the Indian secular republic and the creation of a militarised Hindu nation, Section 125 of the IPC – for waging war against any Asiatic power in alliance with the Government of India – has not been applied.

(Speaking to CC, acting chief of the ATS, KP Raghuvanshi said that he was concerned with creating a watertight case that could ensure convictions and not in outlining charges that could not be proved. “We consulted senior public prosecutors who advised us that the ingredients of sedition were not present in the crime itself.”)

Section 125 of the IPC states: “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added.”

In law the actions of these conspirators amount to sedition and war against the Indian state. If it is proved that this war is being waged from the inside, from a section, not exactly small, of our army, and this fact has escaped the attention of the top echelons of the armed forces so far, it would be logical to conclude that the infiltration into our armed forces runs deep. Just as an ideologically fanatic ISI of Pakistan must shoulder a substantial share of the responsibility for their country’s disintegration into violence and chaos, the trends revealed in the Nanded and Malegaon investigations have the potential, if allowed to pass unchecked, of driving India to disintegration, if not total destruction.

Archived from Communalism Combat,  February 2009 Year 15    No.137, Cover Story 2
 

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