The Hindu
25 January 2009
‘Purohit has contempt for secularism’
Rahi Gaikwad
Mumbai: The key Malegaon blast accused, Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, and co-conspirators hatched plans and envisioned operations that went beyond what happened in the Maharashtra town. They were up against the Indian Constitution and the diverse and secular fabric of the country, according to the charge sheet filed on Tuesday.
The transcript of a discussion among the key conspirators, as part of the charge sheet, quotes Lt. Col. Purohit as saying, “We will fight the Constitution; will fight this nation; this nation is not ours.”
During the conversation, Lt. Col. Purohit, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey, Ramesh Upadhyay and others, identified as Dr. R.P. Singh and Sharma, detailed the “foundation principles” of their agenda of a “Hindu Rashtra.”
Suffused with a bigoted outlook towards the idea of India, the conspirators envisioned the prevalence of the Vedic culture as a monolith, standing for “Bharatiya Culture.” They opposed “cultural and religious diversity.”
“We are being held hostage to the agenda of the secularist, so-called secularist parties. The so-called Hindutva parties have betrayed the cause of Hindutva by using Hindutva as a political tool. There is no alternative to the Hindu nation, nationalism. Well actually there is, it is called disintegration of the nation,” says Lt. Col. Purohit in the transcript.
The front organisation, Abhinav Bharat, formed with the idea of creating a parallel government, had a well-planned agenda, from policy-making to achieving the social goals of education and caste eradication. The organisation’s stand was consciously aggressive.
In the various policies discussed in the transcript, Lt. Col. Purohit speaks of using the term “War Ministry,” instead of “Defence Ministry.” He favours the presidential form of government of “one accepted leader.”
Lt. Col. Purohit’s theocratic worldview, stated in the charge sheet, aimed at forming a “Hindu nations union” and at “unification of Buddhist and Hindu nations to fight Islamic and Christian invasions.” He speaks of a union with Nepal, Thailand and Cambodia.
According to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, the Malegaon blast, which targeted Muslims, was the first step in this direction. From the charge sheet, it is evident that the plot had its roots in a greater conspiracy, which was brewing in the meetings of Abhinav Bharat.
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