India: reports and commentary on Narendra Dabholkar's violent end (indian express)

From: The Indian Express

‘This is the price a social reformer has to pay’
Partha Sarathi Biswas : Pune, Wed Aug 21 2013

Narendra Dabholkar's violent end may have surprised many but definitely not his elder brother Dr Dattaprasad Dabholkar.

"He was well aware of the consequences of his social activism. This is the price a social reformer has to pay in a country like India," he said.

Dabholkar even though aware of the dangers lurking around him had apparently refused to any special security cover from the government.

"He used to say if I am covered, my detractors would go for my comrades. If anyone has to die, let it be me," Dattaprasad said. Public transport was Dabholkar's favourite mode of travel.

As the founder of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), Dabholkar spearheaded the fight to bring a legislation against superstition and black magic. A man full of conviction and grit, Dabholkar hailed from a family of rationalists and social reformers so much so that he had already donated his body.

"My mother and other elder brothers had also donated their bodies. So there were no religious rites after their death," he said.

Dattaprasad said his younger brother was wedded to his cause so much so that he quit his profession. "His wife Shaila was a practising gynaecologist and she had to look after the family. His son Hamid is a qualified psychiatrist and his daughter Mukta is a graduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)," Dattaprasad said. While Hamid practises in Satara, Mukta and her husband are involved in social activism in Dapoli.

A zealous reformer, he often turned a blind eye to his detractors who once told him that abolition of Sati was possible only because India was ruled by the British. He used to argue that such an initiative to wipe out superstition from society was possible as he believed in the basic goodness of human beings.

Hailing from a socially active and intellectual family in Satara, he was the youngest of seven illustrious brothers.

One of his elder brother D A Dabholkar was the vice-chancellor of Pune University during the 70s. Another of his brother left his career as a mathematician to popularise scientific farming in the state.

"After my retirement I decided to stay in Satara. I used to either meet or talk with Narendra over the phone. In fact the last time I spoke to him was two days ago, prior to my trip to Goa. It was a courtesy call and I had no idea that would be the last time I would speak to him," he said.


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Indian Express

This level of intolerance is disturbing, says Amol Palekar
: Pune, Wed Aug 21 2013

His murder has certainly agitated people from all walks of life but it was Narendra Dabholkar's close friend, actor Amol Palekar, who was more vocal about his deep anguish. "I had met him two days ago. It is irrelevant how close I was to him, but it is more important to ask how much more tolerant we are going to be [towards such attacks]," Palekar told Newsline. The actor and his wife Sandhya Gokhale were present at the morgue at Sassoon General Hospital.

Palekar said what is even more shocking is that such an incident happened in a city like Pune. "Recent attacks like the one at Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute makes me wonder how progressive we really are. Just because I don't agree with your thoughts, are you going to shoot me? This increasing level of intolerance is extremely disturbing," Palekar said.

The actor said Maharashtra is a state known for its progressive movements. "In such a state if a person who represents a progressive movement should have such an end, then it is extremely painful. He was as it were the last of one of the Trojans," Palekar said. The actor also extolled the simple life that Dabholkar led. "He came to Pune by a state transport bus and since Dabholkar has no personal gain in anything that he does, power lobbies find him even more difficult to deal with," he said.

A staunch fighter of social dogmas and superstitions, Dabholkar was in the forefront of the campaign to persuade the state government to pass an anti-superstition and black magic bill. It was opposed by certain sections of the Warkari sect. Hindu extremist organisations have opposing such a bill but Dabholkar believed that he was not against anyone's faith but against superstition. "It is extremely disturbing when two successive governments don't show the initiative to table the bill. Really, where are we heading?" Palekar asked.

The actor recalled that he and Dabholkar had shared a platform. "He is a selfless man without any personal gain. If a person can create awareness about eradicating superstition even in rural areas, one can imagine his ability to impact the common man," Palekar said.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

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Indian Express

'If anyone must die, let it be me'
Partha Sarathi Biswas : Pune, Wed Aug 21 2013

Nadrendra DabholkarNarendra Dabholkar who was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pune, Maharashtra on Tuesday morning. (PTI)

Over the years, Dr Narendra Dabholkar had campaigned not only for a law against superstition and black magic but also against the practices he wanted it to eradicate, besides challenging astrologers to a rationality test and taking on the BJP and the Shiv Sena over women's right to enter temples.

Dabholkar, who was shot dead in Pune Tuesday, had made so many enemies that he sensed he was under threat, but chose not to seek security for fear that those targeting him would go after his aides instead, said his brother Dr Dattaprasad Dabholkar. "He used to say, 'If I get a security cover, my detractors will go after my comrades. If anyone has to die, let it be me'," said his brother.

In 2008, Dabholkar and actor Dr Shriram Lagoo devised a questionnaire for astrologers and promised them a reward if they could pass the rationality test; it remains unclaimed. In 2000, he led activists of the Maharashtra Andshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), which he had founded, and hundreds of women from all over the state on a march to Ahmednagar's Shani Shingnapur temple, where women were not allowed. BJP and Shiv Sena workers prevented their entry and had them arrested, said activist Nisha Bhosale who was part of the agitation.

Dabholkar eventually moved the Bombay High Court seeking steps to ensure women are allowed entry in temples. The case is nearing completion, activists say. Since his agitation, even the BJP has picked up the cue and helped open Kolhapur's Mahalaxmi temple to women.

Among Dabholkar's targets were godmen who claim to perform miracles; MANS activists often toured the state to lay traps and get them arrested. He and his aides, particularly those in the MANS women's wing, fought witch-hunters and the concept of the "evil eye", holding workshops and lectures and rescuing various women branded witches.

Dabholkar, a doctor, was the youngest of seven brothers in the family, which hails from Satara. Many of its members donated their bodies after death. These included Dabholkar, but his having been shot makes the donation no longer feasible.

With Dabholkar dedicating himself to his social cause, his brother said, "it fell upon his wife, Shaila, a gynaecologist, to look after the family". His son Hamid is a psychiatrist in Satara and daughter Mukta a social activist in Dapoli.

Among his friends are actor Amol Palekar. When angry MANS activists threatened not to allow an ambulance to carry the body to Satara, it was son Hamid and friend Palekar who helped calm them by appealing to them. They have declared a Pune bandh Wednesday.

Dabholkar once said the cause of anaemia in women in Satara is fasts they undertake. At a lecture, he said a large amount of rice is wasted during weddings every year when it could have been used to feed the hungry. In Pune, he campaigned against immersion, promoting donation of the idol so that the rivers would be safe.

At the time of his death, he was working on an anniversary edition of Sadhana magazine, which he edited.