Goan Observer, 28 June 2008
by Pradnya Gaonkar
The covert activities of self-professed protectors of Hinduism, the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, in the state are disturbing.
THE CHIEF Minister, Digamber Kamat, and the Leader of the Opposition, Manohar Parrikar, not to mention the IGP Kishen Kumar should be more concerned over the terrorist activities of the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti than chasing imaginary naxalites. While, by the admission of the police themselves, there is not a shred of evidence that the social activists fighting to save villages like Colamb and Advalpal from the greed of the mine owners are naxalites, the police in Maharashtra have indicted five activists of the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti for allegedly setting off explosives ostensibly to protest against the distortion of history in the film Jodhaa Akbar and the staging of a Marathi play, Amhi Pachpute in a Thane theatre because they considered it offensive to Hindu sentiments.
The Maharashtra police investigating the explosions, ridiculed as damn squibs by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackarey, have established that the ‘Hindu Bomb’ was assembled in one of the rooms in the Sanatan Sanstha’s ashram in Panvel. The Indian Express, in a report published on Monday, June 23, 2008, has sounded an alarm over the mobilization of hard-line Hindu outfits, notably the Sanatan Sanstha (initially known as Sanatan Bhartiya Saunskrutik Sanstha), the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the newly launched organisation called ‘Dharmashakti Sena’ whose inaugural rally in April showed young men dressed in military uniform.
DHAVLIKAR CONNECTION WHAT is alarming from the Goan context is that the Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti are registered in Goa as charitable organisations and have not only established a strong presence, particularly in remote rural areas, but also appear to enjoy political patronage at the highest levels. Goan Observer investigations revealed that Jyoti Sudin Dhavlikar, wife of the MGP leader and Transport Minister in the Digamber Kamat government Sudin Dhavlikar, is in charge of the Goa Unit of the Sanatan Sanstha. Goan Observer also understands that the IGP, Kishen Kumar, despite being directed to investigate the activities of the Sanatan Sanstha in Goa, did not follow it up seriously because of political pressure.
Incidentally, the Goa headquarters of the Sanatan Sanstha is in Ramnathi Ashram at Kavlem which falls in the Marcaim constituency. Few vigilant citizens stated that the ashram is a huge structure with all facilities established in it. They have also estimated that the built infrastructure is worth more than Rs. Four crores and is safeguarded by the members themselves. It is also reported that entry is restricted to the members of the Sanstha. Further, it has also ben claimed that those who do enter are frisked and their belongings checked. The Marcaim MGP MLA, Sudin Dhavlikar, and his brother are crucial to the continued survival of the Digamber Kamat government which explains why the Chief Minister is not enthusiastic about investigating the credentials of the Sanatan Sanstha.
SELF DEFENCE?! THE most alarming aspect of the rapid growth of these hard-line Hindu organisations, which claim to be protectors of Hindu Dharma, is that they chillingly echo the ominous views of the RSS leader, Madhavrao Golwalkar, who propagated ‘armed battle’ of revolutionaries and saints for protecting Hinduism. Publications of the Sanatan Sanstha reveal that they offer training, not only in martial arts, but even in the use of trishuls and guns. In fact, the book titled ‘Swasaunrakshan Prashikshan’ contains illustrative photographs featuring Vinay Panvalkar, chief of the Dharmashakti Sena, showing readers how to load and aim guns, use trishuls and spears as well as moves in martial arts. While the claim is that the training is imparted for self defence, the images in the book brought out by Sanatan Sanstha expose their deadly motives.
Even a passing glance at the self defence manual brought out by the Sanatan Sanstha, and which is mandatory reading for its activists, reveals the insidious nature of the communal propaganda being carried out by the ‘charitable organisation’. Surely, there can be nothing charitable about images showing young men in military uniform shooting dead a man typically dressed like a Muslim. The defence of course would be that the young men were shooting the ‘Muslim’, who is also shown armed, in self defence. The Sanatan Sanstha’s Swasaunrakshan Prashikshan contains explicit instructions on what parts of the anatomy should be targeted for causing maximum damage, shows how the trishul can be used as an offensive weapon and has entire chapter on how to use air rifles. Except that the training imparted for using air rifles can be used for handling AK-47s also. The images of the activists wielding the gun shows them wearing t-shirts identifying them as soldiers of the Sanatan Sanstha and exhorts activists to kill ‘evil’ and uphold Hindu values.
And while the Sanstha may claim that the book merely features methods of self-defence methods, in its publication titled ‘Spiritual Practice of Protecting Seekers and Destroying Evildoers’, the writers – Dr. Jayant Athavale and Mrs. Kunda Athavale – say “violence towards evildoers is non-violence itself” and “it is a sin not to slay an evildoer”!
INDOCTRINATION LIKE other Hindu fundamentalist organisations like the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sanatan Sanstha also follows the policy of targeting young minds and systematically brainwashing them. The fact that the moving spirit, if not the founder of the Sansthan, Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavale, was a clinical hypnotherapist has been reflected in the methodology adopted by the Sanatan Sanstha for indoctrinating and brainwashing young minds. Young people who attended the satsangs (weekly meets of the members of the SS) of the Sanstha narrate that they are required to fill pages with the name of the Kuldevta and obtain mental peace. The satsangs were cleverly packaged to convert young open minds into fanatical defenders of the Sanatan Sanstha version of dharma. The publication of the Sanstha revealed that it is committed to militant defence of Hinduism, which it claims is under threat not only from the minorities but from members of the Hindu community themselves who are either not conscious of the threat to Hinduism or not committed enough to Hinduism to aggressively protect it from real or imaginary threats.
The Sanatan Sanstha has been, in fact, practicing its own version of the notorious inquisition which in Goa was subjected to during the Portuguese colonial regime which was at the earlier stages of its occupation of Goa fanatically obsessed with promotion of Christianity. The Sanatan Sanstha has been engaged in a crusade to intimidate prominent personalities whom they see as betrayers of Hinduism by their ‘unHindu’ behaviour. Just as during the Catholic inquisition the converts were treated very harshly for not being committed enough, the newspaper brought out by the Sanatan Sanstha called the Sanatan Prabhat highlights statements made by prominent personalities with comments by the editor on the moral character of the persons making the statement.
DANGEROUS THE new hard-line organizations like the Sanatan Sanstha, the HJS and the more recently established Dharmashakti Sena are far more dangerous than the historical self professed champions of Hinduism like the Sangh Parivar fronts such as the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. It would appear that these hard-line organizations have come up because of the disillusion meant amongst hardcore fanatic Hindus that the BJP and the RSS have compromised their core values for political gains. In fact though the Sanstha boasted of over two lakh members when it started in 1999, many members were expelled because they were proved to be ‘corrupt’. Unlike the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, the activists of the Sanstha maintain a very low profile which makes it difficult to combat their mischief. It would also appear that the founder of the Sanstha, Dr. Jayant Balaji Athavale, is no longer in control and that the organisation has been hijacked by fanatics and lunatics. The Indian Express reports that Athavale has virtually withdrawn from the activities of the Sanstha and does not keep in touch even with his old associates.
There have been many articles reported in various publications before regarding the activities of these organizations and, in response, they have carried held various demonstrations against these publications. They claim that the people who write against the Sanstha harm the sentiments of Hindus and, consequently, demonize the people who voice out their feelings against the Sanstha. A mere suppression of the fundamental rights of the citizens in a democratic country!!! In a society which is striving hard to fight terrorism is falling prey to the divide and rule policy in the name of religion where innocent civilians would suffer and not the one’s who intend to rule. The Bombay riots and the Godhra Hatyakand are live examples to quote in this regard. The nation which used to boast of communal harmony and religious and cultural diversity is sheltering organisations preaching religious intolerance.
Police sources in Maharashtra, as quoted in the Indian Express, believe that activists of the Sanstha have been involved in violent activities even in the past. But because of the secrecy surrounding the organisation, it is difficult for the police to find hard evidence against them. Even in the recent cases involving explosions in parts of Maharashtra, the activists who have been arrested have been insisting that they have been acting in their individual capacity and not as members of the Sanstha. Organisation like the Sanatan Sanstha pose a much greater threat to Goa which has an enviable record of communal harmony, except for the shameful incident in Curchorem.