This excerpt, the fourth and the last d in a series of four that Sabrangindia is publishing, looks at the methodology employed by the conspirators and killers of four rationalists, including Gauri Lankesh. The editors remain thankful to the author and to Westland Books for permission to publish this excerpt.

CHAPTER 20

The Nameless Group

In 1986, the Kannada novelist, U. R. Ananthamurthy wrote a nuanced essay about religion and superstition titled “Why Not Worship in the Nude?” (Its title is a reference to a controversial Hindu sect whose adherents pray unclothed.) The essay teems with complexities and questions, including the following: “Haven’t I become what I am by de-mythifying, even desecrating, the world of my childhood? As a boy growing up in my village, didn’t I urinate stealthily and secretly on sacred stones under trees to prove to myself that they have no power over me?”

The essay was little known until June 2014, when M. M. Kalburgi referred to the quoted passage in a speech. This time it landed in a political climate that hungers to be offended, and this passage of Kalburgi’s speech attracted wide media attention. But the media (including Sanatan Sanstha’s daily newspaper) immediately got two things very wrong: first, it was reported as Kalburgi describing his own childhood experience, not referring to Ananthamurthy; second, it was reported that he’d urinated not on sacred stones but on Hindu idols, a far more grievous act of desecration. Some even claimed that Kalburgi had urged his audience to urinate on idols. A brief, contextless video clip of this bit of Kalburgi’s speech played repeatedly even on mainstream TV news channels and circulated widely online.

It was this episode—this garbled reporting of a literary reference that Kalburgi made once—that motivated his assassins to murder him, the SIT found. The killers didn’t care about, and never read, the hundred books he wrote. They were indifferent to his stance on the Lingayat issue. His entire life’s work and thought were reduced for them to this one misunderstood moment, then whipped up into an offense so intolerable that they could not permit him to live.

Dabholkar and Pansare seem to have been murdered for more obvious reasons: their insistent campaigns against superstition, which right-wing Hindu groups saw as a direct threat to their religion and culture. But why did they murder Gauri?

In India it is common for police complaints to be filed against people for “hurting religious sentiments,” a phrase that is perhaps unique to India and that is frequently invoked in the news media. The relevant law, Section 295A, is obviously well meaning: religion is a volatile subject in India, so a disincentive to needless religious provocation seems wise. In practice, though, Section 295A seems to have encouraged a very vocal minority from all religions to develop a hair-trigger sensitivity to any potential insult (including satire, legitimate criticism, unintended implications, and innocent misstatements), and even to seek out opportunities to be offended, because the law seems to enshrine an actual right not to be offended, at least when it comes to religion.

In its charge sheet, the SIT concluded that the assassins’ motivation for killing Gauri was very specific: a single speech she gave, in Kannada, at a Communal Harmony Forum event in Mangalore, on August 2, 2012. “What is this Hindu religion?” she said in the speech. “Who is the founder of this religion? We know the founder of the Christian religion and its holy book, we know the Muslim religion and also its holy book, likewise about the Sikh religion, the Buddhist religion, Jain religion, but who is the founder of the Hindu religion?…This is a religion without a father and mother and it does not have a holy book. It never existed, and it was named only after the British, can it be called a religion?”

A video clip of this speech circulated widely on YouTube and WhatsApp with the caption “Why I hate secularism in India.” And the SIT found that as each new member of the assassination team was inducted into the conspiracy, the ringleaders would show them this particular clip, often repeatedly, as the primary motivator of their will to kill. They told their recruits that in making these remarks, Gauri had “caused great damage” to Hinduism, and that further harm will befall Hinduism “if she is permitted to continue to speak this way.”

In December 2016, Gauri herself posted a link to the video, writing, “I am facing a case because of this speech. I stand by every word I said.” Police had booked her for what she said in the speech, not under Section 295A, but under Section 153, incitement to riot (although there had been no riot). A court hearing in the case was scheduled for September 15, 2017, ten days after her death. Her friend Vivek Shanbhag told me he saw this clip circulate much more widely on social media after her murder—“certainly to convey that this is justified.” These re-postings were often captioned with lines like of course killing is wrong, but look at what she said.

It wasn’t important to the killers even how influential their targets were. They themselves had mostly never even heard of Gauri until they were shown this video. The important thing was whether the target had done or said something—even a single quotation, and ideally captured on video—that could crystallize outrage against the target. It turned out that it wasn’t about suppressing unfavorable journalism, and it wasn’t about the Lingayat debate. (The killers didn’t care about vote-bank politics.) It was because the killers simply believed they had a duty to kill those who had, in their view, intolerably insulted Hinduism, regardless of their stature and influence. As the Sanatan Sanstha book Kshatradharma Sadhana put it, the seekers had to slay the evildoers.

Beyond that imperative, it seemed to me that the killers weren’t strategic at all in their choice of target, although Gauri’s friend Shivasundar disagreed with me. “I think they have multiple strategies,” he said. “One of the strategies is to kill the local problematic people. They may not be high profile, but they are an immediate impediment. Writing in local languages, immediately they’re a threat. They did not think that Gauri would have so much national and international attention, because they didn’t do much homework on Gauri, I don’t think. So this actually blew up beyond their imagination. It boomeranged. But other people in the target are local, state- level kind of leaders. I think that is the new strategy, assassinating these kinds of people.”

There is no concept of blasphemy in Hindu scripture. It’s an idea that comes from the Abrahamic tradition. Christianity and Judaism seem to have retreated from it, by and large. But Hindutva has adopted it; in recent years Sanatan Sanstha has been agitating for an Indian anti-blasphemy law. Hindutva hard-liners, in defense of their touchiness, often point out how touchy many Muslims are over any negative comments on Islam or Muhammad, which is of course true. But it’s a strange thing to aspire to the touchiness of the most insecure Muslims. A great deal of Hindutva seems to be geared toward imitating the most reactionary qualities of the religion (Islam) and the country (Pakistan) that they claim to hate the most.

It’s important to note that the current level of Hindutva sensitivity is a recent development. Gandhi was assassinated not because of particular things he said but because the Hindu right wing thought that he’d used his enormous influence over the future of South Asia to “appease” its Muslim population en masse and thereby, supposedly, give away half the country (in the form of Pakistan). The author of the Indian Constitution, B. R. Ambedkar, converted to Buddhism in 1956 along with hundreds of thousands of his fellow Dalits. “I am ecstatic! I have left hell—this is how I feel,” he said the next day. “Because of the Hindu religion, no one can progress. That religion is only a destructive religion.” Those words haven’t stopped the BJP and RSS from attempting to co-opt his legacy in the hopes of attracting a Dalit following. K. S. Bhagawan, the next person the assassins planned to kill, pointed out to me that he’d been saying inflammatory things about Hinduism for decades; only recently did anyone threaten to murder him over it.

Still, several of Gauri’s friends and colleagues told me that while obviously she deserved no harm for anything she said, they didn’t honestly like that she could be so pejorative about Hinduism instead of reserving her criticism for Hindutva. “I really think that the way Gauri, or some of us, or many such people addressed these issues was not correct,” said H. V. Vasu— a progressive activist whose secular credentials are impeccable. “You may be an atheist, but there are people who are religious. And especially when irrationality is growing, and more and more people are going to the other side—even common people who are actually voting for an ideology that oppresses them. Then what approach should you take? You should stick to your ground in fighting for democratic rights, secularism, all that is true. But people do need God. Even when Marx said that religion is opium, there were other sentences attached to it—he said that religion is the heart of the heartless world and the soul of the soulless world. There’s so much suffering and insecurity in this world. You must acknowledge that people have spiritual needs.”

On New Year’s Day 2012, in the northern Karnataka town of Sindagi, six young men were arrested for hoisting the national flag of Pakistan on the flagpole in front of a local government office. The men were members of the fringe Hindutva group Sri Ram Sena; their intention was to whip up tensions with the local Muslim population. The man who actually hoisted the Pakistan flag was a twenty-year-old college student named Parashuram Waghmare. Five years later, he would shoot and kill Gauri Lankesh. The ringleaders of the group who conspired to kill her recruited him precisely because of the initiative he’d shown in the flag-hoisting incident.

Waghmare had never heard of Gauri until those conspirators told him they wanted him to kill her and showed him the video of her speech. But Gauri, oddly enough, had heard of Waghmare. His flag-hoisting escapade was notorious in Karnataka. In the January 28, 2012, issue of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, she even wrote about it for her lead editorial. “It has been proven now that patriotism, nationalism, and religiousness are simply a few table topics” to Hindutva activists, she wrote. “Their true agenda has been to instigate communal hate between different religions of India through acts of terrorism.” She called Waghmare and his accomplices “Hindu hooligans.” Her next issue’s cover story was an investigation into the flag-hoisting incident by one of her reporters.

But another group was already rising, one that Gauri knew nothing about yet. I derived all of the information in the following account of that group from the 255 pages of statements of the accused included in the SIT’s charge sheet, as well as newspaper articles by Johnson T. A. of The Indian Express and K. V. Aditya Bharadwaj of The Hindu, who are universally considered the two most accurate and reliable reporters on the assassination of Gauri Lankesh. At the time I’m writing this, the trial against these suspects is ongoing, and every sentence that follows should be presumed to include the word “allegedly.”

The founder of the assassination organisation that murdered Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M. M. Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh was Dr. Virendra Tawade, an ENT surgeon who had been a longtime member of Sanatan Sanstha. Tawade had led Sanatan Sanstha’s protest campaign against Dabholkar’s anti-superstition organization, MANS—one medical doctor versus another. Tawade founded the assassination group at the urging of Shashikant Rane, alias Kaka, the top editor of Sanatan Sanstha’s newspaper, Sanatan Prabhat. In 2010 or 2011, Rane convened a meeting at the Sanatan Sanstha ashram in Goa with Tawade and two other Sanatan Sanstha members: Amol Kale and Amit Degwekar. Amol Kale was a leader of the Sanatan Sanstha’s offshoot Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and served as a salesman of the organization’s publications. Amit Degwekar lived at the Goa ashram and worked as a promoter and proofreader of Sanatan Prabhat. His roommate at the ashram had died in 2009 when he accidentally detonated his explosives while attempting to bomb the festival in the nearby town of Margao.

Dr. Tawade was founding the new group, Rane told Kale and Degwekar at the meeting, because “Hindu dharma is in trouble.” The law would clearly not protect their interests, so they needed to take the law into their own hands. Hindu youth must be gathered, a sense of revolution must be instilled in them, and they must carry out the religious work of destroying evildoers. Dr. Tawade was not giving the organization a name, Rane explained, because a name would only make it easier for the police to identify and thwart them. Rane would remain in his role at Sanatan Sanstha and help fund the new nameless group (until he died in 2018, inconveniently for the SIT). The other three men at the founding meeting—along with two other early members of the group, Sujith Kumar and Vikas Patil—would henceforth disassociate themselves from Sanatan Sanstha. Degwekar would serve as liaison between Sanatan Sanstha and the new, nameless group, as well as its treasurer.

Over the next few years, as they enlisted dozens of recruits, the Nameless Group developed a strict set of protocols. To aid focus and avoid mistakes, chant mantras every day. When mistakes occur, write them down. When meeting other members of the Nameless Group, don’t request or share anything personal, including line of work, and especially don’t ask or offer names or personal phone numbers; only call other members using specially assigned burner phones. Everyone would be assigned a code name, numbers would be written in a cipher, and all references to criminal activities would be conducted in code words.

It’s important to note that the co-conspirators barely knew one another. They often didn’t have fluent languages in common because they came from several different states. They met at bus stands, wearing caps to recognize one another, and at training camps in remote areas, where they received practical education in weapons (guns, petrol bombs, IEDs) and subterfuge (how to mislead the police; how to endure police torture). It’s only after they were arrested that most of them spent much time with one another.

One member was a used-car salesman. One was a goldsmith. One ran a fragrance shop; another ran a computer-assisted design company. One was a civil contractor and former elementary school teacher. One worked as an astrologer and Ayurveda specialist. One sold incense sticks; another was a vegetable vendor. The day job of another, incredibly, was personal assistant to a Congress Party legislator. One was a motorcycle mechanic, who, more to the point, was also a skilled motorcycle thief. The mechanic said that when Dr. Tawade met the new recruits, “he filled our heads with all his thoughts. He kept emphasizing the point that if we did anything for dharma, our family would be safe in all the seven lives to come.”

Sharad Kalaskar, who was selected to shoot Narendra Dabholkar, worked as a farmer. After Kalaskar committed the deed, on August 20, 2013, Dr. Tawade told him that he would be uplifted in all seven births, that he would go to God as Arjuna (one of the warrior heroes of the Mahabharata), and that even though he had committed a big “event”—their code word for “attack”—the police would not catch him because God’s grace was upon him.

Around that time, several members held a meeting to brainstorm whom they might kill next. One new recruit—Mohan Nayak, who served as a leader of the Karnataka branch of the Sanatan Sanstha offshoot HJS—made a list that included a supposed Naxalite, a Muslim politician, and Agni Sreedhar. A more senior member explained to him that he should not include Muslims, Christians, or politicians on the list; their priority, he explained, should be Hindus by birth who had become traitors to Hinduism and who were therefore threats to their own faith. Such people were bigger threats to the faith than Muslims. Nayak got the idea and suggested a different name: Gauri Lankesh.

But that would wait. On February 16, 2015, the Nameless Group killed Govind Pansare. On August 30, 2015, they killed M. M. Kalburgi; for this killing, the shooter was Ganesh Miskin, alias Mithun, who would go on to drive the motorcycle for the Gauri Lankesh assassination.

On June 10, 2016, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Dr. Tawade for Dabholkar’s murder—three years after Dabholkar’s murder and two years after the CBI had taken over the investigation from the Maharashtra police. After the arrest, Rane, the editor of Sanatan Sanstha’s newspaper, summoned Tawade’s deputy, Amol Kale, to the Goa ashram and made him the new head of the Nameless Group. “You take up the lead of the dharma work and continue,” he said. “We’ll provide you with all the assistance from time to time.”

In June 2016, the group’s main recruiter, who goes by the alias Praveen, showed the other senior members the video clip from the speech Gauri had delivered in Mangalore in 2012, in which she ridiculed Hinduism for not having a “mother or father.” In the last week of August they called a meeting with several junior members of the group, at which they discussed the Sanatan Sanstha book Kshatradharma Sadhana and each drew up lists of evildoers. They soon coalesced around Gauri as their next target. Kale’s diary revealed the group’s code name for their plot to kill Gauri: Operation Amma (“amma” meaning “mother”).

Kale introduced a different operational style to the Nameless Group. Whereas Tawade’s plots were straightforward—case the victim’s house, then show up and shoot him at an opportune time—Kale’s plot against Gauri was much more elaborate and compartmentalised, with separate teams running each facet of the operation. They were more careful than ever, but also more confident.

In October 2016, the Nameless Group enlisted Parashuram Waghmare. They had been particularly impressed by Waghmare’s arrest for hoisting the Pakistan flag. They told him there was someone who needed to be murdered and urged him to meditate and pray. That same month, the group’s mechanic stole the Hero Honda Passion Pro motorcycle that the hit team would use for Gauri’s murder and gave it to Amol Kale.

Meanwhile, Kale gave Gauri’s office address to two of the younger recruits—Ganesh Miskin and Amit Baddi—and assigned them to do reconnaissance. In late March they traveled to Bangalore, stayed at the house of a friend (lying to him that they were in town for work), borrowed the friend’s motorcycle, and tailed Gauri for a couple days. In April they met Kale again, gave him her home address, and reported that she lived alone. The best time to kill her, they said, would be when she gets out of her car to open her house’s gate. Throughout the summer of 2017, these three men were crawling all over her neighborhood for weeks, continuing to study her movements, surveying all lights and CCTV cameras near her house, practicing multiple variations on routes, absorbed invisibly into the traffic of Bangalore. In July they brought Waghmare on a reconnaissance visit to Bangalore, but blindfolded him so that he’d know as little as necessary.

Throughout that summer the group also did firearms practice at a remote farm shed owned by one member, using a polystyrene mannequin as their target. They mostly used air pistols because real bullets were in short supply. Between shooting and karate they did meditation and yoga.

In June 2017, they recruited the final member of the team: K. T. Naveen Kumar, the one who slipped up first and gave them all away. That month, at the annual Sanatan Sanstha convention in Goa, he gave the impromptu speech, about the need to use weapons to protect Hindu dharma, that had so impressed his fellow convention goers. The HJS spokesperson Mohan Gowda then introduced him to Praveen, the Nameless Group’s recruiter. When they first met, Naveen Kumar gave Praveen two bullets, but came up empty when the group asked him again and again for more. Naveen Kumar talked big, but those two bullets were his only apparent contribution to the plot.

In the second week of August 2017, members of the Nameless Group stayed in the Bangalore suburbs for several days. There Kale gave them their assignments. Waghmare was assigned to shooting. Miskin was to drive the motorcycle on “event” day and to be the backup shooter—and also to shoot anyone who tried to interfere with the assassination. Baddi was to wait in a van en route to Gauri’s house to help the hit team with their clothes and guns, to retrieve the guns and clothes from them immediately after the “event,” and then to bring the guns and the motorcycle to the city of Belgaum. Kalaskar, who shot Dabholkar, was to continue training Waghmare and Miskin in shooting and to collect the guns from Baddi in Belgaum. A member named Bharat Kurne, code-named Uncle because he was a family man, was assigned to cook for the hit team, to ensure they got out of town on a bus on the night of the “event,” to bribe police if necessary, and to help keep the hit team’s minds “stable” by leading them in meditation and prayer.

After shooting practice, Waghmare selected the gun that he was most comfortable with, which happened to be the same gun that shot Pansare and Kalburgi. Miskin told Waghmare that he shot Kalburgi in the forehead and Waghmare should shoot Gauri in the forehead, too. Baddi advised Waghmare to chant God’s name while shooting, as is recommended in the Sanatan Sanstha book Kshatradharma Sadhana.

On September 2, 2017, Kale and another member traveled to Bangalore along with the hit team’s clothes, two guns, and twenty-five bullets. For the week of the murder, the Nameless Group had set up two hideouts in the southern suburbs of Bangalore. The core hit team—Waghmare, Miskin, Baddi, and Kurne—stayed together. When Waghmare was brought to that hideout, on September 3, the others again blindfolded him so that he wouldn’t know where it was.

September 4, 2017, was the day they chose to kill Gauri. The hit team woke up early to pray for an hour or two. Kurne cooked them lunch. As the time for the “event” approached, he instructed the hit team to use the toilet, to eat little food, and to carry cash. At around 6:30, Miskin gave Waghmare a pistol and kept one for himself. On the way to Gauri’s house, they stopped to put on their second layer of clothes and cover their faces with handkerchiefs and put a fake license plate on their motorcycle and load their guns. They arrived at the park near Gauri’s house at around 7:45. They waited there until 8:00, and then Waghmare walked over to Gauri’s house and found that she was already at home.

On September 5, 2017, they tried again, following the same plan and arriving at the park near Gauri’s house at around 7:50. When Gauri’s car appeared, taking a right turn by the park, Miskin pointed her out to Waghmare. They followed her on the motorcycle. When she got out of her car to open her gate, Waghmare stepped down from the motorcycle, aimed his gun at her head, and fired, striking her twice in the abdomen. She screamed and ran. He fired two more bullets, one of which struck the wall of her house, the other hitting her below the right shoulder. Meanwhile, Miskin turned the motorcycle around. He and Waghmare fled, stopping to reverse their disguises on the way back to the hideout. The gun was out of Waghmare’s possession fifteen minutes after the murder; he passed it to Baddi, who passed it to Kale, who wrapped it up and put it in a red suitcase, which went into a storage space rented for that purpose. At the hideout, Kurne was waiting for the killers with their luggage to get them to the bus out of town.

Half of the accused conspirators were outside Bangalore on the day of the assassination and only learned of its success the next day. On September 7, at a construction site in Belgaum, Kale met the core assassination team— Waghmare, Miskin, Baddi, and Kurne. He fed them chocolates and gave Waghmare 10,000 rupees, or around $150. Waghmare soon spent it all, 4,000 rupees of it on hospital treatment for nasal problems.

By October 2017, the Nameless Group had turned to the next item on their list: the assassination of Professor Bhagawan. In the first week of November 2017, most of the conspirators met at Kurne’s farm for further training and discussion of plans. As usual, their training session alternated between weapons training and dharma talks, prayer, and meditation. Despite the successful assassination in September, Kale appears to have been increasingly frustrated with his co-conspirators. He reprimanded one for not being in Bangalore to help during the “event.” He was angry at two others because he assigned them to do reconnaissance for three days on a social activist in Pune, but they came back with nothing.

Meanwhile, Praveen, the group’s recruiter, had been calling K. T. Naveen Kumar about the plot to kill Bhagawan, again asking him if he could procure more guns and bullets. Naveen Kumar told him he’d do literally anything to protect dharma and bragged, implausibly, that he could get guns from the late bandit Veerappan’s gang with a week’s notice. It was these phone calls that the SIT intercepted, giving them their big break and beginning their series of arrests.

In December 2017, led by Kale, ten members of the Nameless Group met in Pune to organize a bomb attack on the Sunburn Festival, an electronic dance music event, because they considered it contrary to their idea of Hindu culture, but they abandoned the plan after two members accidentally got caught on CCTV cameras while doing advance reconnaissance. The following month, Kale organized an attack on movie theaters showing the historical epic Padmaavat, because it is, as Kalaskar put it in his statement, “a misrepresentation of the history of Hindu kings” and might encourage Muslim men to pursue Hindu women. “We intended to cause loss of property and create an atmosphere of fear,” he said. In this they were successful: the group exploded bombs at two movie theaters. No one was hurt, but panic broke out and screenings of the film were canceled.

Around this time, Naveen Kumar asked the senior members of the group to meet him in Davanagere because, he said, the “things” had arrived for killing Bhagawan. When they arrived, Naveen Kumar gave them the runaround for a while before admitting he still had no guns—there was apparently “no signal” from “his side” because “they did not trust us enough.” Kale was furious. After this, Naveen Kumar never again picked up their calls.

On February 19, 2018, Naveen Kumar was arrested. The senior members of the group had an urgent meeting in Madgaon. They decided to collect their weapons stashes and move them to a safer place, to shave any facial hair, to wear glasses and caps, and to hide out for a while in a different house. But Kale assured the other conspirators that the arrest of Naveen Kumar wouldn’t affect them; they should meditate and pray and prepare for more dharma work. While in hiding, Kalaskar accidentally shot himself in the hand while cleaning a gun.

On May 20, 2018, Praveen, the group’s recruiter, was arrested; police found twenty-two phones, and many more loose SIM cards, in his kitchen, along with his diary and a copy of the book Kshatradharma Sadhana. The next day, police arrested three others, including Kale, while they waited for Praveen at a bus stand; they didn’t yet know of his arrest. In Kale’s possession police found twenty-one phones, plus three diaries at his home. In the possession of Degwekar, the group’s treasurer, they found several envelopes of cash, totaling over 150,000 rupees, that had been withdrawn from a Sanatan Sanstha bank account, along with the passbook for that account. Degwekar claimed that the money was subscription payments from readers of Sanatan Sanstha periodicals. Police found that the various diaries referred to over two dozen collaborators with the Nameless Group in Karnataka and dozens more in Maharashtra—over sixty arms-trained and

radicalised recruits total (most of whom had not yet participated in any hit jobs). Intelligence agencies immediately put as many of them as they could under surveillance if they didn’t yet have the evidence to arrest them. These recruits mostly came from a tri-state area: southwestern Maharashtra, Goa, and northern Karnataka. The annual Sanatan Sanstha convention in Goa, it seemed, was their central recruitment hub, where they sought out young men with violent tendencies and a history of communal incitement.

After learning of Kale’s arrest, the members at large destroyed their burner phones. Mohan Nayak destroyed the bomb gelatin he was storing for future attacks. Kalaskar, the member who’d shot Dabholkar and who’d helped train Gauri’s killers, burned his phone and his three diaries, which included his notes on how to make guns and bombs. On June 11, Waghmare was arrested.

Kalaskar still had the guns. After Waghmare’s arrest, Kalaskar met with the Sanatan Sanstha lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar. To cover their tracks, they had an elaborate method of meeting: Punalekar’s assistant placed an ad in Sanatan Prabhat seeking a security guard, and Kalaskar answered the ad, whereupon the assistant took him to meet Punalekar at his office. Punalekar asked Kalaskar whether Gauri’s murder could be tied to Kale or Tawade, and he asked about the location of the guns. Two days later they met again, and Punalekar told him to destroy the guns used for killing Gauri along with their remaining stash of guns and bombs. “He also asked me how long it would take to make new guns,” Kalaskar said in his statement, “and he said he would pay the cost for making guns.” Punalekar asked Kalaskar extensively about the Dabholkar murder and “various cases,” and told him not to worry.

I will note here that the account of Kalaskar’s conversations with Punalekar in the above paragraph comes directly from a statement that Kalaskar dictated and signed before a magistrate, which means that it is admissible as evidence in court. Later, in 2019, the Central Bureau of Investigation would arrest Punalekar in connection with Dabholkar’s murder. The SIT investigating Gauri’s murder said they considered Punalekar a “person of interest” in that case for advising Kalaskar to destroy the guns, but they did not arrest him.

On July 18, 2018, Mohan Nayak was arrested. On July 23, Kalaskar disassembled the guns in his possession, including those used in Gauri’s murder, then, with the help of Punalekar’s assistant, threw the guns’ slides and barrels into Vasai Creek, near Mumbai, which empties into the Arabian Sea. He kept the remaining gun parts for making new guns, calculating, apparently accurately, that only the slides and barrels were ballistically identifiable. Over the next three weeks, the SIT arrested seven more members of the Nameless Group, including Kalaskar, Kurne, Miskin, and Baddi.

On August 19, 2018, the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad raided the house of the assistant of the Sanatan Sanstha lawyer Punalekar and found an enormous cache of explosives, plus sixteen complete pistols and many partially made pistols and pistol parts. The ATS concluded that most of these pistols were made or obtained after the arrest of Naveen Kumar six months before, which suggests an alarmingly rapid rearmament of the Nameless Group, even while their members were being arrested. In the past the group had lain low for as long as two years between hits, to let things cool down. Kale apparently wanted to accelerate the group’s work, to assign multiple simultaneous assassination plots and bombings to several teams. The bust also implied that the group had grown large enough that it was possible that enough members remained free to regroup and kill again.

On August 20 and September 8, two more members were arrested. Now only two of the eighteen men charge sheeted for Gauri’s murder remained at large, both of them senior members of the Nameless Group. “Sanatan Sanstha has no connection with these killings. Due to propaganda by the Communist Party, the misunderstanding about us has been created,” said a Sanatan Sanstha spokesperson on September 6, 2018, the day after the first anniversary of Gauri’s death. “Violence was never, is never and will never find any place in the mission of Sanatan Sanstha, which believes in working in a constitutional manner.”

(The first excerpt was published some days ago and may be read here. The second excerpt may be read here.

The third excerpt was published too and may be read here. This is the fourth and concluding excerpt that we will be pulishing.)

Note from the Editors: We would like to express our heartfelt solidarity with the family of Gauri Lankesh, Indira Lankesh, Kavitha and Esha Laneksh, who have with pathos and determination built on the gaping vacuum created by Gauri Lankesh’s assassination. Gauri was also a close and dear activist friend of Sabrangindia’s co-editor, Teesta Setalvad.

Related:

Rationalist Murders: Slamming CBI’s shoddy probe & failure to nab masterminds, Pune court slams attempt to “finish off Dabholkar’s ideology”

10 years since Narendra Dabholkar’s murder, protest in Mumbai, SC asks CBI to look into ‘larger conspiracy’

Firing at the Heart of Truth: Remembering MM Kalburgi

Teesta Setalvad On Assault On Reason

Death of a Rationalist: Govind Pansare

Contrasting two lists: one with “facts” on right-wing deaths, the second, targeting other writers after Gauri Lankesh

Storms battered her from outside, but she stood, an unwavering flame: Gauri Lankesh

Honour for killers of Gauri Lankesh and MM Kalburgi in Karnataka, public felicitation and terms like “Hindu tigers” for accused Amit Baddi and Ganesh…

Protest in Karnataka as activists condemns felicitation of Gauri Lankesh murder accused by right-wing groups

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The post How the noose tightened: understanding modus operandi of killers who took the life of journalist-activist, Gauri Lankesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The order pointed out that venue transfer was proper to ensure neutral proceedings and the physical safety of defendants and witnesses. The cases are against rationalist Hamid (Narendra) Dabholkar, journalist Nikhil Wagle and others for allegedly connecting Sanatan Sanstha to the killings of famous rationalists and journalists. The judgment brings to the fore a contentious intersection of defamation law, public interest speech, and the longer, contested history of criminal charges and probes into murders of dissidents that many observers and some investigating bodies have tied, directly or indirectly, to members or militants affiliated with the Sanstha.

What is Sanatan Sanstha?

Sanatan Sanstha is a tight-knit, secretive organisation which presents itself as striving to propagate what it terms “Sanatan Dharma” (a term applied to several Hindu religious organisations). In reporting and analysis in the media and among civil society it is most often represented as right-wing Hindu with revivalist inspiration; some aspects of its rhetoric and activities have been condemned by commentators as exclusionist or militant in orientation. The Sanstha, on its own part, has consistently ruled out organisational complicity in crimes and has employed civil law (including defamation cases) to resist those who openly link it with murders. Since the organisation is not a banned group, public characterisations of its ideology and activities are based upon investigative journalism, charge-sheets, and scholarly and journalistic analysis and not upon a statutorily recognised designation.

The Origin, Parties and Claims of the Defamation Suits

Between 2017 and 2018, the Goa-headquartered organisation Sanstha filed multiple civil defamation suits in the civil court, senior division, at Ponda (Goa) against a small group of public figures, including Hamid Dabholkar (son of the slain rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar) and senior journalists such as Nikhil Wagle and others, alleging that statements and publications by them had falsely linked the Sanstha to several high-profile killings and thereby harmed its reputation.

The Sanstha alleged that in a public meeting commemorating Govind Pansare, individuals, including Nikhil Wagle and Dr. Hamid Dabholkar, have made defamatory statements about the Sanstha and the newspaper published those statements under the headline, “New terrorism of anti-nationalists out of selfish motive.” The Sanstha alleged that Hamid Dabholkar, Nikhil Wagle, and others made comment attributing the murders of Govind Pansare and Dr. Narendra Dabholkar to the Sanatan Sanstha. The lawsuits allege the statements were made at their speeches, and the newspaper (Dainik Sakal – Kolhapur Edition) published those speeches in 2017 with the allegations. Sanatan Sanstha has argued that this is false and malicious.

The suits claim massive damages (accounts say up to ₹10 crore in certain cases). The suits were filed amidst a heated, contesting public discussion over whether fringe group members or sympathizers were responsible for the murders of renowned rationalists and journalists.

Those who were sued by Sanatan Sanstha have always argued that their comments were either fair comment, on the basis of investigative journalism and official accusations, or in furtherance of public interest discussion regarding violent attacks on contrarian voices. As a response to the civil suits, the defendants have contended that facing trial in Ponda, near Sanatan Sanstha’s headquarters, risked their safety and the impartiality of proceedings and hence sought transfer of venue to the Bombay High Court. The High Court held that fear of endangerment to life and impartial trial “seemed real and reasonable” and, on 3 September 2025, directed transfer of five such cases from Ponda to a court in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. The order of transfer doesn’t determine the substantive defamation suits; it determines forum and fairness.

The violent events typically associated with the Sanstha – what investigations actually found

Public discourse and multiple investigative reports have linked a small number of violent murders of rationalists, activists, and journalists – specifically the murders of Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare (2015), M. M. Kalburgi (2015), and Gauri Lankesh (2017) – to overlapping suspect networks. The important consideration is that the factual posture varies by case: in each case, investigating agencies (i.e., state SITs, the CBI or ATS) developed conspiracy theories and executed arrests; in some cases, chargesheets alleged persons with organizational affiliation, in other cases courts have framed charges, and in still other cases, the prosecution or conviction remains contested on appeal.

Narendra Dabholkar (August 2013, Pune): Following a lengthy investigation, the CBI arrested several suspects, and in 2021, attempted to invoke UAPA provisions against several suspects, treating the murder as a large-scale conspiracy; the CBI’s case has alleged connections to Sanatan-linked networks and generally has at times referenced certain counts as terror activity. Charges were framed against a group of suspects in September 2021, and the investigation has been contested in special court litigation. Reports describe the CBI inquiring into conspiracies associated and alleging that some accused conspired under the terrorism statute.

Govind Pansare (Kolhapur, February 2015): Police and SIT inquiries led to the arrest of Sameer Gaika, who police labelled an activist for the Sanatan Sanstha; charges were brought, the case moved through courts, and multiple hearings were held about since with varietals on the framing of charges and trials. Local courts granted bail to some accused at times, and the timeline for adjudication of the case by prosecution and hearing judges has been protracted. Police reports from the time conveyed that there were inquiries to assess the political and organizational right-wing networks the accused were part of.

1.  M. Kalburgi (August 2015, Dharwad): There was a Special Investigation Team (SIT) involved in a murder investigation against Kalburgi, which resulted in an extensive chargesheet that detailed many accused and described a plot devised by individuals aligned with an organised group; in its filings, the SIT indicated tactical similarities relating to both Kalburgi’s death and Lankesh’s murder. As was the case with the other murders, portions of the investigative work rested on recovered items, interviews with witnesses, and movements of those later charged; in the Karnataka courts, prosecutions and bail applications have continued.

Gauri Lankesh (September 2017, Bengaluru): The Karnataka police conducted investigatory work (which included an investigation and review by both the SIT/CBI) and publish a lengthy chargesheet in 2018-19 that revealed many accused individuals. The findings also labelled the suggested murderers as part of an organised syndicate. There have been multiple accused arrested, and the court proceedings/hearings have been slow (to date); most recently in early 2025, several of the accused have been released on bail. These issues have touched off public discussion, concern, and criticism of the benefit of a quality investigation into the murder.

In several of these criminal cases, investigators have asserted or placed on record evidence, indicating that individual suspects are associated with networks where individuals have been or currently are members or associates of Sanatan Sanstha; in some cases, evidence is on record to support charges under serious criminal statutes (including sections of UAPA). However, whether there is judicial finding of organizational responsibility, that is, whether Sanatan Sanstha as an organizational entity is found to have ordered, executed or coordinated the killings is a separate but important legal question and in respect of each case is different; and the court record for these cases is mixed: there are a variety of arrests, chargesheets have been filed, some convictions, and continuing appeals and bail orders.

Why are so many accused out on bail?

Bail is the rule and jail is the exception – this is a principle firmly grounded in Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty). Courts consider whether a prima facie case is made out, the seriousness of the charges against the accused, any threat of tampering with evidence or threats to witnesses, as well as the period that the accused has already spent in custody. The Supreme Court has expressed disapproval of those who are detained for extended periods before conviction. For lengthy delay cases, courts also grant bail once the accused has been detained for a significant period.

All four cases have been characterized by investigation delays, piecemeal charge-sheets, and an extended period before the framing of charges. In the Pansare case, for instance, the Bombay High Court of January 2025 noted that the accused had remained in custody for years without a trial, and granted bail on the basis of delay. In the Kalburgi and Lankesh matters, courts have identified extended periods of pre-conviction detention as a reason to grant bail.

Courts are not intended to conduct a mini-trial at bail. If the evidence appears circumstantial or contested or there are gaps in the prosecution’s case (as argued in some defence applications) judges may be more inclined to grant bail, while noting that guilt or innocence will be determined in the trial stage. In these cases, courts have typically debated whether testimony of witnesses, recovery of weapons, or alleged links of conspiracy existed in the case against each accused, and that this gave courts leeway to provide bail pending trial.

Should bail have been reconsidered in the light of the alleged influence of the accused?

Critics – including the families of victims and various civil society groups – say that many of those accused are represented by powerful ideological or organisational networks which present a greater risk of witness intimidation or other similar interference with justice, and thus their influence should be considered more heavily in the bail decision. In practice, the courts in India usually want specific evidence of attempts to tamper or intimidate before using “influence” as a basis to refuse bail. Influence alone, without proof of its misuse, is generally not sufficient.

A more nuanced assessment of the case suggests that stricter scrutiny of bail was warranted, but they could not categorically deny bail. On one hand, there was a notion of ideology behind the crimes – the targeting of rationalists and journalists, and given a history of threats directed at activists, stronger bail conditions could have been imposed, such as electronic monitoring, witness protection, or limits on associational activities. Courts may have also legitimately denied bail where evidence previously documented networks that sheltered the accused, or attempts to tamper with witnesses. On the other hand, blanket denial of bail, merely on the grounds of alleged influence, CT affiliation, or express outrage, could lead to the violation of Article 21. Judicial discretion must be based on clear evidence of the accused intimidating, tampering, or engaging in new criminal activity, not mere conjecture. Otherwise, justice is delayed and denied denies bail and, with each day given that they have been detained, are subjected to a punishment without a conviction, many for over a decade in detention without any judgment.

Free Expressions and Defamation

The central issue in the defamation lawsuits revolves around the conflict between the freedom of expression and the right to reputation. Activists and journalists such as Hamid Dabholkar and Nikhil Wagle contend that their claims that Sanatan Sanstha is linked to the murders of rationalists were made in good faith, based on charge-sheets, investigative journalism, and the larger context of ideological violence. Their view is that this kind of commentary is protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution as a form of fair comment and public interest speech. Sanatan Sanstha argues, on the other hand, that the claim that it is a “terrorist outfit,” or that it can be collectively responsible for crimes allegedly committed by individuals, constitutes defamation and unfairly defames the organisation. The courts will need to carefully balance protecting organisations from false and malicious allegations while allowing for democratic debate in the realm of violent ideas and accountability.

Fair trial and physical safety in a venue

The Bombay High Court’s ruling that the suits would be moved from Ponda, Goa, to Kolhapur, Maharashtra, reflects a common problem in political litigation: how to be confident that a trial will take place in a setting free of intimidation or bias. Transfers of venue under Section 24 of the CPC are not typical; they only become necessary where litigants can show reasonable apprehension and can plead otherwise. Here, the court found that the Sanstha’s physical presence in Ponda would negatively affect the defendants’ ability to safely and without intimidation defend themselves. The order reflects that a fair trial, and the provision for the programs and protection of innocent persons is not only the rules of procedure; it is fundamentally: the practical realities of intimidation, the availability of security, and local influence.

Accountability for Violence Inspired by Ideology

The broader societal issue comes down to how to hold accountable extremist organisations where acts of violence are allegedly executed by individual members, but where demonstrating responsibility by the organisation in court is incredibly challenging. Indian criminal law uniquely focuses on the individual and does not identify or prosecute ideologies unless a group or organisation is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or other statutes. In the cases of Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, and Lankesh, agencies and investigators noted patterns of conspiracies, overlapping organizational networks, and ideology in this rationale. Yet, the responsibility of organizations has proven difficult to prove in a court of law, creating an abyss between the public perception of organizational participation and the legal standard of beyond reasonable doubt. This has frustration among victims’ families and civil society, observing delayed or furthermore diluted, meant of justice.

Insights and Recommendations

A key takeaway from this case was the importance of enhancing free speech protections when activists and journalists write about matters of public concerns. Defamation law cannot become a sword that hangs over anyone asking questions about violence, ideology or accountability. The courts can lessen the risk by better applying the fair comment defence, protecting genuine free speech in the public interest against crippling damages claims. There should be a higher standard of malice before punitive damages are awarded.

The guarantee of a fair trial, is equally important. The transfer order by the Bombay High Court shows that venue neutrality is particularly important in cases charged with political controversy. However, fairness does not stop at a transferral; stronger witness protection programmes, neutral monitoring of trials and bail conditions that do not allow for intimidation or interferences are also necessary. In the case of a politically charged criminal trial where the accused is alleged to be part of influential networks, the justice system must have safeguards in place proportionate to the risks.

The larger problem of delay also needs to be addressed. The Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, and Lankesh trials have gone on for many years, leading to a loss of public confidence and comfort provided to victims’ families. Support for reform like fast-track courts, adequate resources for prosecution, and a requirement for periodic review by a judge may help. Judgments made swiftly would address the system’s reliance on lengthy detention before trial while reconciling the rights of accused persons and victims.

On the point of organisational responsibility, Indian criminal law has focused on individuals. However, if a pattern of violence is happening, and that pattern can be credibly traced to a group or network within the group, then administrative remedies may be appropriate. Monitoring or reporting on financial records, conducting audits of organisations, or creating additional registration requirements could be some possible routes; provided that those remedies provide constitutional protection against arbitrary bans. In this way, the law may honour civil liberties, but still comply with the dangers of violent ideology.

Finally, the judiciary and legislature must address the issue of the misuse of defamation cases as a means of coercion; or as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). Procedures like the early dismissal of frivolous cases or cost-shifting to vexatious plaintiffs may help to shield critics from being pulled through the ringer of costly and lengthy litigation. In this way, there can be safeguards for both the right to reputation and the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression; and the abuse of law will be restrained.

Fundamentally, this occasion is about recommitting India to stand against the persecution of dissent. Rationalists, journalists, and activists play an essential role in a pluralist democracy, and they should not be silenced through the threat of violence or vexatious lawsuits. A vigilant judiciary, independent prosecutors, and legal reform can work together to create a courtroom towards accountability and away from coercion.

(The legal research team of CJP consists of lawyers and interns; this community resource has been worked on by Preksha Bothara)

Related

Gauri Lankesh Murder Case: Chargesheet names Sanatan Sanstha

Free Speech in the Digital Age: A doctrinal analysis of four recent Supreme Court cases on Article 19(1) (a)

Death of a Rationalist: Govind Pansare

Court Acts on Misinformation: FIR against channels for wrongly branding teacher a terrorist

The post Defamation, Dissent, and Democracy: The Bombay High Court’s transfer of Sanatan Sanstha suits appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This move by the temple authorities came directly on the heels of intense pressure and vocal demands from pro-right-wing organisations and even a local NCP MLA, all demanding for the removal of non-Hindu workers from the temple’s operations. A protest rally led by Ahmednagar (Ahilyanagar) NCP MLA Sangram Jagtap was also organised on June 14, 2025.

शनीशिंगणापूरमध्ये हिंदू समाजाच्या श्रद्धेचा घोर अपमान झाला.
११८ जिहादी मानसिकतेच्या लोकांना शुद्ध मंदिरात नोकऱ्या देण्याचा निर्णय हा हिंदू धर्म, परंपरा व श्रद्धेवर थेट घाला होता.
मी या निर्णयाविरोधात शनी भूमीत ठाम भूमिका घेतली. pic.twitter.com/et07OLYUUs

— MLA Sangram Jagtap (@sangrambhaiya) June 15, 2025

Following pressure from right-wing outfits, the Shani Shingnapur Temple Trust held internal meetings on June 8 and 14. Soon after these closed-door deliberations, the Trust issued dismissal orders for 167 workers, marking a significant and controversial move, as per a report in Maktoob Media.

While the temple management has vehemently denied any allegations of religious discrimination or bias, asserting that the decision was based purely on absenteeism and subpar work performance, the timing of these dismissals has raised significant concerns.

Occurring just days after the public outcries from Hindutva groups, the sequence of events has led many observers to question the true underlying motives behind the Trust’s actions. The stark contrast between the village’s open-door philosophy and the sudden closure of opportunities for Muslim workers at the temple presents a complex and troubling narrative.

Viral video showing Muslim workers doing work near the temple ignites controversy and demands for exclusion

The seeds of this controversy were sown in May, when a video clip rapidly gained traction across social media platforms. This footage depicted Muslim individuals engaged in painting and maintenance activities in the vicinity of the revered Shani Shingnapur temple. Almost immediately, the video became a flashpoint, drawing sharp criticism and objections from an array of right-wing organisations and leaders.

Their core demand was unequivocal–non-Hindus, they insisted, should be barred from working within the ‘sacred precincts of the shrine’. This chorus of demands quickly intensified, building considerable pressure on the temple administration.

११८ जिहाद्यांना शनी मंदिरात ठेवण्याचा प्रकार हिंदू धर्माचा अपमान आहे!
शुद्ध हिंदू मंदिरात अशुद्ध विचारांचा शिरकाव सहन केला जाणार नाही.
१४ जून २०२५, शनिवार | संध्याकाळी ४ वाजता
शनी शिंगणापूरमध्ये भव्य मोर्चा!

हजारो हिंदू बांधव उपस्थित राहणार आहेत – तुम्हीही या! pic.twitter.com/NUnVERBfhb

— MLA Sangram Jagtap (@sangrambhaiya) June 13, 2025

Notably, these terminations occurred without any prior public hearing or a formal, impartial investigation into the allegations or the workers’ performance. This abrupt action, coming on the heels of the viral video and the escalating demands, further fuelled the contentious narrative surrounding the temple’s employment practices.

Right-wing outfits earlier demanded the removal of the Muslim workers

The pro-right-wing organisations, including the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and Sakal Hindu Samaj (SHS), led the campaign demanding the removal of Muslim workers from the Shani Shingnapur temple. These groups vehemently demanded the immediate removal of Muslim workers, expressing concerns about the sanctity of the temple and what they perceived as a disregard for Hindu sentiments.

Just a day before the dismissals, the HJS publicly called for immediate action. Through their official social media handle on X (formerly Twitter), the HJS stated, “Shocking! 114 Muslim workers deployed inside the sacred Shani Shingnapur temple; grill installed on holy platform, hurting Hindu sentiments. Demand for their immediate removal & strict action on officials who allowed this — @SG_HJS, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. Govt urged to adopt Tirupati-like Hindu-only staff policy!”

Shocking ! 114 Muslim workers deployed inside the sacred Shani Shingnapur temple; grill installed on holy platform, hurting Hindu sentiments.

Demand for their immediate removal & strict action on officials who allowed this — @SG_HJS, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.

Govt urged… pic.twitter.com/ig7FboLYRC

— HinduJagrutiOrg (@HinduJagrutiOrg) June 13, 2025

Similarly, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, an allied pro-right-wing outfit of the HJS, also voiced its concerns days before the removal decision. The outfit, through a social media post on X, directly appealed to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for immediate intervention, questioning the very sanctity of the temple with the presence of Muslim workers. Their post on X read:

“Shani Mandir Trust at Shani Shingnapur in #Ahilyanagar has given jobs to 118 Muslims. These heretics do not believe in #Hindu gods, how will they maintain the sanctity of this temple? Are we waiting for another #Tirupati laddu fiasco to happen or readying ourselves for opening of Mecca and Medina for non Muslims ? Especially since this temple comes under the control of the #Maharashtra government Request to @Dev_Fadnavis to take immediate action on this and maintain the sanctity of the temple.”

Shani Mandir Trust at Shani Shingnapur in #Ahilyanagar has given jobs to 118 Muslims.

These heretics do not believe in #Hindu gods, how will they maintain the sanctity of this temple?
Are we waiting for another #Tirupati laddu fiasco to happen or readying ourselves for opening… pic.twitter.com/BI8693rD6K

— Sakal Hindu Samaj (@sakal_hindu_) June 8, 2025

Right-wing outfits hail dismissals, call for similar review and action at other temples

Following the temple trust’s decision, right-wing outfits Sakal Hindu Samaj and Acharya Tushar Bhosale, chief of the BJP Spiritual Coordination Front, celebrated the move. Bhosale explicitly stated the dismissals were a direct result of pressure from a “grand march” organised by “the entire Hindu society” in protest of Muslim employees. He hailed it as a “victory of the unity of the entire Hindu society,” indicating a clear intent to influence temple employment practices based on religious identity.

Bhosale said that, “In protest of the appointment of Muslim employees at the Shani Shingnapur temple, all of us, under the leadership of the entire Hindu society, organized a grand march yesterday. But under the pressure of this march, the temple administration has announced that they are removing the Muslim employees from their jobs. I congratulate all the Shani devotees of the country and the entire Hindu society, because this is a victory of the unity of the entire Hindu society”

Nashik, Maharashtra: Out of the 167 employees removed from the Shani Shingnapur temple, 114 were from the Muslim community

BJP Spiritual Coordination Front chief Acharya Tushar Bhosale says, “In protest of the appointment of Muslim employees at the Shani Shingnapur temple, all… pic.twitter.com/yvAutINbp7

— IANS (@ians_india) June 13, 2025

Similarly, the Sakal Hindu Samaj commended the temple’s action. They framed the dismissals as a response to “anger in the Hindu community” over Muslim employees allegedly installing grills on a sacred platform.

#Shani_Shingnapur Temple removes 114 Muslim employees following public outrage over breach of sanctity.
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti welcomes the decision & urges similar reviews in other temples to ensure staff uphold #Hindu traditions. pic.twitter.com/fOxOkfP7IP

— HinduJagrutiOrg (@HinduJagrutiOrg) June 14, 2025

Beyond endorsing the Shingnapur decision, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, along with organisations like Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Maharashtra Mandir Mahasangh, has now publicly demanded investigations into the appointments of “people of other religions” in other government-managed temples, urging their “immediate” removal.

शनि शिंगणापुर मंदिर से 114 मुस्लिम कर्मियों की छुट्टी, ‘बिंदास बोल’ की हुंकार और सकल हिंदू समाज के आंदोलन की जीत#shanishingnapur #Maharashtra #bindasbol #SanatanDharma @SureshChavhankehttps://t.co/C93edBHdDi pic.twitter.com/6xiQ965lI4

— Sudarshan News (@SudarshanNewsTV) June 14, 2025

Temple body denies religious bias, cites performance issues amid discrimination allegations

Amid mounting allegations of religious discrimination, temple officials at Shani Shingnapur have firmly denied that faith played any role in the mass dismissal of workers. They claim the decision was based purely on operational efficiency, pointing out that only around 900 of the 2,400 contracted workers were regularly reporting for duty, while the rest were allegedly underperforming or frequently absent.

However, the move has sparked controversy, as the majority of those dismissed were low-wage Muslim labourers engaged in essential but menial tasks—such as sweeping, tending to the cowshed, agricultural work, and performing routine administrative duties. Many of these workers were hired without formal employment contracts, leaving them vulnerable and without legal safeguards.

Critics argue that the lack of documented performance reviews and transparent processes raises serious questions about the fairness and intent behind the dismissals, especially in light of the preceding pressure from right-wing groups demanding the removal of Muslim staff.

114 Muslim employees dismissed from Shani Shingnapur temple, along with few others on grounds of indiscipline and irregularities. pic.twitter.com/zkCbqtKMeg

— Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) June 13, 2025

Controversy not new to Shingnapur

Religious discrimination is not a first-time controversy for the Shingnapur. In September 2024, Shingnapur Gram Panchayat passed a controversial resolution barring the registration of new Muslim voters, specifically targeting “recently arrived” individuals. Justified under claims of preventing “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants,” the move demanded the removal of existing Muslim names from electoral rolls. Civil rights groups condemned it as unconstitutional and sought legal action against the panchayat. Following widespread backlash, Sarpanch Rasika Patil issued a public apology, stating the resolution was misrepresented and no such action would be taken.

The gram panchayat of #Shingnapur village in #Maharashtra‘s #Kolhapur district passed a resolution on 5 September barring the registration of new #Muslim voters in electoral rolls. The panchayat’s decision, which specifically targets #Muslims ‘recently arrived’ in the village,… pic.twitter.com/EA2oinwi2A

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) September 16, 2024

This incident followed an earlier resolution in August 2023, where the panchayat prohibited the allotment of village land for religious events—another decision widely criticised for targeting minority communities. Together, these actions suggest a troubling pattern of exclusion under the guise of administrative control.

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Harmony vs disharmony in 2 states: Kerala temple welcomes Muslims; MP temple fires Muslims

The post Right-wing outfits and NCP MLA’s protest led to dismissal of 114 Muslim workers at Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The five men are: Sujit Rangaswami, Amit Baddi, Ganesh Miskin, Shrikant Pangarkar and Bharat Kurane. The High Court granted them bail on July 30, and the order was made public on August 5.

A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande observed that the alleged conspiracy to bomb the festival was never executed. The bench further added that “We have noted that all the accused persons are arrested in the year 2018 and as on date, though the trial has commenced, only two witnesses have been examined and third witness is in the witness box, when the prosecution has cited the list of 417 witnesses,”.

The prime allegation, even as per the chargesheet was that the accused persons being active members of the Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, hatched a conspiracy to execute petrol and crude bomb blasts in the then ongoing Sunburn festival in Pune city.

It was further alleged that they were influenced by the philosophy of creation of ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and keeping this objective in mind, had conspired to eliminate all activities opposing the Hindu religion and all entities, which were preaching or writing or propounding against their religion. It was claimed that they were active in disruption in the exhibition of movies, and conduct of programmes, which according to them, in any manner brought any disrepute to the pride of the Hindu religion.

The chargesheet further discloses that the persons opposing the deep-rooted practices adopted in Hindu culture through their writings like Dr Narendra Dabholkar from ‘Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti’, Comrade Govind Pansare as well as Prof MM Kalburgi and senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, who were done to death by the ‘motorcycle riders.’

The judges, however, opined that such statements in the chargesheet, were insufficient to establish the charge of conspiracy against the Appellants.

The judges further emphasised the fact that the ‘speedy trial’ has received a recognition of the fundamental right of a person facing accusations and being subjected to trial.

The accused persons were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and the Maharashtra Police Act.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has alleged in its chargesheet that the accused persons were influenced by a book titled Kshatra Dharma Sadhana, which is published by the Sanatan Sanstha and calls on Hindus to establish a Hindu Rashtra or Hindu nation.

The notorious and aggressive Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) and its ally Sanatan Sanstha who’s activists (and masterminds) have alleged to be linked to the accused of rationalist murders of Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare (2015), MM Kalburgi (2015) and Gauri Lankesh (2017) presently hosts an international meet to hail and promote the idea of Hindu Rashtra (India as a Hindutva Theocracy).

The Order of the Court can be read here:

Related:

Memo seeking preventive action against Hindu Janajagruti Samiti event sent to authorities

Hindu Janagaruti Samiti (HJS) & Karnataka links

The post Bombay HC grants bail to Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti Members appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“If India has accepted ‘Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’, then why shouldn’t there be a Goa Files,” HJS national spokesman Ramesh Shinde said on Wednesday. Last week, while speaking at a function to mark the 350th anniversary of Shivaji’s coronation, Sawant said on the 60th anniversary of Goa’s Liberation, the state should remove all Portuguese influence and “have a fresh start”. He said the Portuguese had begun destroying the temples 350 years ago and it was stopped after Shivaji confronted them.

Ramesh Shinde said “unspeakable atrocities” were carried out by Portuguese against the Hindus during the inquisition. “Why shouldn’t everyone in Goa and in the rest of India know about the extent of the atrocities?” Shinde said they’ll discuss the making of the film, ‘Goa Files’, during the 11th edition of the annual all-India Hindu Rashtra Convention at Ramnathi in Ponda. The summit will see hundreds of heads of different Hindu organisations from India and around the world come together for the week-long convention beginning on June 16. This is afoot in Goa presently, having begun yesterday, Friday, June 16 and is slated to continue till June 22.

“The Supreme Christian leader, the Pope, has publicly apologised throughout the globe for the inhumane atrocities committed by Christians worldwide. Is there a reason why he has not apologised to the people of Goa yet?,” Shinde said.

The convention will also propose to the Goa government to establish a museum in the state on the Inquisition. “Such museums exist in Christian countries like Peru, Brazil, Spain and Portugal. Then why shouldn’t such a museum be established in Goa,” the HJS national spokesperson said. The HJS has announced that it will also assist the Goa government in its efforts to identify sites of temples destroyed during the Portuguese rule so that temples can be rebuilt at these locations, he said.

So it’s now the turn of the Christian minority to be demonised and stigmatised in the garb of a selective re-telling of our past. Its no secret that some repression, even conversions did actually take place during Portuguese rule in Goa, but shared cultures, food and a tradition also followed. Chicken café real, Sorpotel, Xacuti are only some of the food delicacies just like the Bibinca is a much flavourful Goan desert. For those who trade on hate and violence however where can be any question of any meaningful sharing?

Months ago, Sudipto Sen’s ‘The Kerala Story,’ and it’s not-so-hidden goal of advancing Islamophobia and furthering communal divides by depicting Hindu women being targeted, converted to Islam, and then recruited by ISIS to commit ‘Jihad,’ had already caused plenty of controversy raised anti-Muslim and Islamophobic pitch to high levels. The film vilified both Islam and the Muslim community, with Muslim men being demonised and an anti-Muslim propaganda was disseminated. That the focal point of the film was also based on misinformation, with unverified claims of 32,000 (Hindu) women being targeted by Muslims for conversion is a moot point. This was later corrected, only after the Courts stepped in. Much damage had already been done.

Then, the trailer for Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s ‘72 Hoorain’, promises to further feed in to anti-Muslim propaganda, has been released. Besides, there are several more such propaganda filled movies set to be released this year in the run up to the general elections of 2024.

The teaser for ‘Accident or Conspiracy Godhra’, directed by MK Shivaaksh and produced by BJ Purohit and Ramkumar Pal, has been released and the movie is set to be released in theatres soon. According to the teaser, the film promises to “show the truth” behind what caused the riots. The teaser calls the attack on Sabarmati Express ghastly. Was it a well-planned attack that led to the Gujarat riots or was it a result of a fit of frenzy? The film is ostensibly based on the Nanavati Commission report, which was the commission of inquiry appointed by the government of Gujarat to probe the Godhra train burning incident. The report had upheld the latterly promoted “conspiracy” theory behind the Godhra train fire.

Another such movie named Tipu, which is a biopic based on the life of Tipu Sultan- the 18th century ruler of the then Mysore kingdom, had been made a few months ago. The announcement regarding the release of Tipu came along with the country-wide release of The Kerala Story. The said announcement of the film was accompanied by a short video clip that makes multiple claims which come off as Islamophobic in nature. The video clip claims that during Tipu’s time, “8000 temples and 27 churches were destroyed.” It also adds, “Four million Hindus were forced to convert to Islam and forced to eat beef.”

Adhi Purush, another movie based on the Ramayana, is slated to be released soon. Additionally, the teaser of Randeep Hooda starrer ‘Swatantra Veer Savarkar’ is also out, which attempts to glorify the life of a political leader who was an aggressive votary of an exclusivist Hindu Nation, the Hindu Rashtra

Bollywood once boastful of its own version of syncretic India be it Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony or before that a 1931 film Alam Ara , or V Shantaram’s 1941 film about the duo Pandit and Mirza, or Yash Chopra’s Dhul ka Phool released in 1959 with the theme of a Muslim protagnost bringing home a Hindu orphan child and bringing him home is now slave to the diktats of a majoritarian ideology. Best then we remember the words of the song from Dhul ka Phool, “Tu Hindu Banega Na Mussalmaan Banega, Insaan ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega” and hum to these consoling words.

Related:

Film as Propaganda: the months between June 2023 & May 2024

What a one-sided Kerala Story does to society – Part II

The repercussions of a propaganda like “The Kerala Story”

‘The Kerala Story’ producer agrees to remove teaser claiming conversion of 32,000 women

The Kashmir Files: Calls for Muslim genocide ring out in cinema halls, hate brews outside

Hate floods in the wake of ‘The Kashmir Files’

The Kashmir Files: Celebrities and politicians warn against propaganda-driven films

From Fauda to Ertugrul: Spreading radical agenda via entertainment

Elections 2019: Modi biopic and a trail of violations

The post Now, a Goa outfit wants film on ‘Portuguese horror’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Ranjit Savarkar also asked Hindu seers to tell their followers to eat only ‘jhatka’ meat so that “our money” does not go to Muslim butchers, the newspaper reported. “The campaign should be that we will not trade with Islam. Trade will be between Hindus…,” he said.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is one of the chief ideologues of India’s Hindu nationalist movement.

HJS Goa, June 2023

The notorious and aggressive Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) who’s activists (and masterminds) have been closely linked to the accused of rationalist murders of Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare (2015), MM Kalburgi (2015) and Gauri Lankesh (2017) has hosted an international meet to hail and promote the idea of Hindu Rashtra (India as a Hindutva Theorcracy). The convention in Goa with online and offline participation of 1500 participants began on Friday June 16 and continues through June 22

At the HJS press conference held in New Delhi four days ago, HJS announced the agenda for the seven-day meet scheduled to be held at Shree Vidyadhiraj Hall, Shri Ramnath Devasthan, Bandora in Ponda, Goa. With a BJP government firmly in this holiday destination diverse state, Goa, no disruptions are likely. The vast campus of the organisation Sanatan Sanstha (founded by JayantAthawale) set in the balmy clime o south Goa, Ponda is housed just here.

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti state spokesperson, Mohan Gowda had said in a statement here on Friday, June 9, “There will be many brainstorming sessions on various issues such as Love Jihad, Halal Certification, Land Jihad, Kashi-Mathura Mukti, conversions, cow-slaughtering, Islamic invasion on forts, protection of temple culture, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Hindus, persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, etc, besides subjects related to laying the foundation for establishing Hindu Rashtra,” he added reported Siasat.com. “Besides Mandir Mahasangh, Waqf Board, Conversion, Love Jihad, Halal Jihad, PFI, ISIS, how Hindu nation should be discussed in this program with the people from all the organizations and will keep their demands in front of the government,” National “Guru”, Dr Charudatta Pingale had asserted.

All prominent names associated with HJS, have been over the past week holding small, seemingly innocuous gatherings in different parts of the country to announce the heralding of the Hindu Rashtra. Their meetings are being held in localities and temples. Besides, the modus of online satsang are being used to propagate the HJS Mahotsav. All the Members of HJS and their social media accounts are full of photos of the proposed Sabha and Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsav.Repeat offenders in terms of provocative hate speech have been invited and are likely to turn up in Goa and attend. The names likely to reach Ponda Goa and create a stor by their hate speech are Kalicharan Maharaj, Raja Singh, Suresh Chavhanke of Sudarshan News and others.

Related

Surat: Kajal Hindustani again indulges in hate speech, despite 3 FIRs

Terror accused BJP MP Pragya Thakur delivers hate speech in Bhopal, recalls her role in demolition of Babri Masjid

CJP complains against Suresh Chavhanke for Sangamner hate speech

Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels

The post Savarkar’s grandson calls for trade boycott of Muslims: HJS, GOA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the occasion of the 81st birth anniversary of Jayant Athavale, the founder of Sanatan Sanstha, Hindu Rashtra Jagruti Abhiyan was organised in Solapur, Latur, Beed, Pune and Dharashiv in Maharashtra. These events were organised in various temples in these areas and pictures of the same were uploaded on the official Twitter account of Sanatan Sanstha. In these pictures many people can be seen praying in the temples and as per their own account, the people were gathered to pray for a Hindu Rashtra.

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer done for establishment of #HinduRashtra in various temples at Solapur, Latur, Beed, Dharashiv.

1/5 pic.twitter.com/9r9cbSaEaD

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 8, 2023

In Pune’s temples this was done along with a cleanliness drive within the temples. In Pune, some more temples where such meetings were held include

1. Narsinh Mandir, Sadashivpeth;

2. Bhikardas Maruti Mandir,

3. Tulsibaug Ram mandir

4. Shiv temple, Shiv Shambho foundation, Shahunagar

5. Shri Padmavati devi temple, Sahakarnagar

6. Moraya Devasthan, Mangal murti wada, Chinchwad gaon

7. Ganesh temple, Kothrud

8. Bhavani devi temple, Kothrud

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer for establishment of #HinduRashtra & cleanliness drive conducted in temples of Pune. pic.twitter.com/UJDxpC5MZ5

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 8, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer & pledge taken for establishment of #HinduRashtra at temples in Pune

1. Shiv temple, Shiv Shambho foundation, Shahunagar pic.twitter.com/NThUq6SVyv

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) April 28, 2023

Similar events held in a Hanuman temple in Faridabad; Ravalnath temple in Ajara, as well as the famous Mahalakshmi temple, Kolhapur:

फरीदाबाद में @SanatanSanstha आयोजित हिंदू एकता शोभायात्रा की पूर्व सिद्धता के कुछ क्षण

विविध संघटन, संप्रदाय एवं धर्मप्रेमी उत्साह से समर्पित भाव से धर्मसेवा में सहभाग ले रहे है #Faridabad में रामराज्य का शंखनाद आज सिद्धपीठ हनुमान मंदिर से #HinduRashtra #रामराज्य #dharma pic.twitter.com/M8kuMNrss2

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 7, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer done for establishment of #HinduRashtra in Ravalnath temple, Ajara, Kolhapur. pic.twitter.com/W6VblxYj2z

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 5, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer for establishment of Hindu Rashtra was offered at Mahalakshmi temple, Kolhapur

Many dignitaries were present on this occasion.https://t.co/oTgMtE76TR pic.twitter.com/n1Fy9dt7Bj

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) April 24, 2023

In Sidddheswar temple, Solapur

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer done for establishment of #HinduRashtra at Shri Siddheshwar temple in Solapur. pic.twitter.com/b6lelymC9M

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 1, 2023

In Satara, Wai and Karad:

1. Temple at Shivajinagar, Satara

2. Shri Rokdoba temple, Siddhanath wadi, Wai

3. Muralidhar temple, Ganpati aali, Wai

4. Shri Maruti Mandir, Ambedare, Satara

5. Shant Maruti temple, Satara

6. Vitthal temple, Karad

7. Kale Maruti Mandir

8. Vitthal-Rukmini temple, Karad

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer for establishment of #HinduRashtra & cleanliness drive conducted in temples of Satara, Karad, Wai

3 Temples in Karad

1/3 pic.twitter.com/ABH18Kj1SV

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) April 30, 2023

In Sangli, these prayer meetings were held in Bhairavnath Mandir, Vita; Shri Datta temple, Audumbar; Shri Ambika temple, Kavathe Mahankal; Sangameshwar Mandir, Haripur

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of Sanatan Sanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer done for establishment of #HinduRashtra at various temples in Sangli.

1. Bhairavnath Mandir, Vita

1/2 pic.twitter.com/aUrrTZ8EDW

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 5, 2023

The collective prayer meetings also reached Dakshin Kannada in Karnataka (Shree Lakshmi temple in Puttur) as well as Kunigal, Tumkur and Hassan.

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of Sachchidananda Parabrahman (Dr) Athavale

Collective prayer for establishment of Hindu Rashtra was offered at Shree lakshmi temple in Puttur, Dakshina Kannada district.#Hhdrathavale#SaturdayVibes #Hindu pic.twitter.com/4l1rGODkde

— Sanatan Sanstha Karnataka (@SS_Karnataka) April 29, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer for establishment of Hindu Rashtra was offered at diff temples in kunigal, tumkur, hassan.

Many dignitaries were present on this occasion.#HHdrathavale pic.twitter.com/xteQ1Uubsn

— Sanatan Sanstha Karnataka (@SS_Karnataka) April 26, 2023

They also organised Shoba Yatras for the same:

#हिन्दूराष्ट्रस्थापना के प्रेरणास्रोत सच्चिदानंद परब्रह्म डॉ. आठवले जी के 81 वें जन्मोत्सव के उपलक्ष्य#उज्जैन में @sanatansanstha द्वारा भव्य #हिन्दूएकता शोभायात्रा !

इस शोभायात्रा मे विभिन्न संगठनो के पदाधिकारी एवं प्रतिनिधी सम्मिलित हुए । #HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan pic.twitter.com/iQBmENskwg

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 8, 2023

The Sanstha also reached Goa where such meetings were held in:

1. Shri Saraswati mandir, Balli;
2. Shree Rashtroli Brahman Devasthan, Vasco;

3. Shri Ram mandir, Mesta wada, Vasco

4. Shri Bhovateshwar Brahmaneshwar Devasthan, Vasco

5. Shri Ganesh mandir, Narayan nagar, Honda

6. Shri Vyaghreshwar Vadadev Mandir, Honda

7. Shri Rampurush Devasthan, Palem, Usgaon

8. Shri Siddhivinayak temple, Kandoli

9. Shri Gopal Krushna temple, Bori

10. Shri Murugan temple, Madgaon

11. Shri. Datta Mandir, Ray, Madgaon

12. Shri Ganesh temple. Narayan nagar, Honda

13. Shri Vyaghreshwar Vadadev temple, Honda, Sanquelim

14. Shri Rampurush Devasthan, Pale, Usgaon

15. Shri Hanuman Maharudra Devasthan, Morlem, Sanquelim

16. Shri Swami Siddhanrudh temple, Porvorim

17. Shri Mahadev temple, Kasarvanem, Pernem

18. Shri Murugan temple, Madgaon

19. Shri Gopal-krushna Devasthan, Dicholi

20. Shri Kali mata temple, Nerul

21. Shri Shrikrushna temple, Kelbai, Curti

22. Shri Saraswati temple, Balli

23. Shri Saibaba temple, Canacona

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Cleanliness drive undertaken in various temples of Goa.

1. Shri Saraswati mandir, Balli

2. Shree Rashtroli Brahman Devasthan, Vasco

1/3 pic.twitter.com/SLVUXqBpyd

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 2, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayer done for establishment of #HinduRashtra at various temples in Goa.

1. Shri Siddhivianayak temple, Kandoli

1/4 pic.twitter.com/0LsPIW8WwQ

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) May 1, 2023

#HinduRashtraJagrutiAbhiyan on the occasion of #81stJanmotsav of @SanatanSanstha ‘s founder Sachidanand Parabrahma Dr Jayant Athavale

Collective prayers for establishment of Hindu Rashtra were offered at various temples in Goa.

1. Shri Murugan temple, Madgaon pic.twitter.com/Qj2pL32l9p

— Sanatan Sanstha (@SanatanSanstha) April 24, 2023

Related:

Hindu “monks” give calls for Hindu Rashtra at an Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha event: New Delhi

Open display of “welcome to Akhand Hindu Rashtra” accepted while “discomfort” over Namaz being offered in basement, is this the New India?

Saffron Bigotry threatens Muslim existence in India

The post Now ‘Hindu Rashtra’ enters temples in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Four years ago, academic and activist MM Kalburgi was gunned down at his residence in Dharwad by Ganesh Miskin & Praveen Chatur, both linked to Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindutva outfit. Kalburgi was a vocal critic of idol worship and superstition, which often got him locking horns with Hindutva groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which made Kalburgi the target of their campaign during the years following up to his assassination on 30th August, 2015.

Translated by Aniruddha Nagaraj and Ali Ahsan

Image courtesy Catch News

As a tribute to Kalburgi and to the countless other pens that will not be put down, ICF presents an impassioned Kannada poem on political killings, by poet-activist Huchangi Prasad.

You cowards —
firing at us who wield pens.
You murderers —
celebrating the cold-hearted killing of innocents.

Let the sparrows
build nests
at your gunpoints.

Your guns may have wounded us.
But we are not just bodies,
                              Mute bodies.

We are children of the earth,
our mother gives us life with every letter,
strength with every word.

Look, this is not blood we shed
but ink, fresh and indelible,
writing the history of truth.

Every drop of blood now reborn
                      into a thousand truths.

Listen — I know, you Great Devotees!
I know the sword that chopped Shambuka’s head.
I know who demanded Eklavya’s thumb.
I know the truth: I know that sword.
I know you who became a gun
to kill me.

Listen — lies are not termites
                     eating away at truth.
Guns cannot destroy it either.
But these pens, these countless pens,
How they grow, tall, strong,
like a gigantic tree of many truths.

Read the original here.

Read more:
They Feared His Words: A Tribute to M. M. Kalburgi
Are there links between Sanatan Sanstha and Abhinav Bharat?
Avinash Patil on Religion, Superstition and Sanathan Sanstha​
Why Sanathan Sanstha’s Allegation is Redundant

Huchangi Prasad is a writer and activist. He currently teaches at the Government First Grade College, Davanagere, Karnataka.

Poem © Huchangi Prasad; translation © Aniruddha Nagaraj and Ali Ahsan.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The post Firing at the Heart of Truth: Remembering MM Kalburgi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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

In an important development in the investigation of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar’s murder case, Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Sanjeev Punalekar on Saturday in Mumbai. Punalekar is a lawyer for Sanatan Sanstha, an organisation which has been under the scanner for terror activities. Punalekar along with his assistant Vikram Bhave has been arrested and will be produced to Pune Court on Sunday. Dabholkar was murdered on August 20, 2013, during his morning walk in Pune. His was the first in a series of murders of rationalists that followed in Maharashtra and Karnataka, including Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh.

Sanatan Sanstha is a right wing organisation spread across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. Punalekar being their lawyer had defended all the accused in the case including Virendra Tawde, Sachin Andure, Sharad Kalaskar, Amol Kale and others. One of the accused in this case, Rakesh Pangera has got bail but is under custody of Karnataka ATS for the Gauri Lankesh case.

Punalekar has also defended the Sanatan Sanstha and its activities on almost all television news channels, debates, press conferences and elsewhere. He has also defended Sanatan Sanstha’s alleged activists Sarang Akolkar and others in Margao and Panaji bomb blast case, which had taken place in 2009. His arrest in the Dabholkar case is one of the most important development of recent times.

CBI’s Additional Superintendent of Police S R Singh has confirmed the arrest of both. He said that the both of them will be produced in Pune court on Sunday, where the CBI will seek their custody.

Dabholkar was known for his rationalism and activism against various superstitious beliefs. He had founded Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti, an organisation against superstitions, and was the torch bearer of progressive and secular values.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The post CBI Arrests Sanatan Sanstha Lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar in Dabholkar Murder Case appeared first on SabrangIndia.