India: Karnataka state approves anti superstition bill - Press release by MANS (27 Sep 2017)

Press release by Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS) regarding efforts to get proposed Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill passed in the state cabinet on 27 September 2017 SEE: http://www.sacw.net/article13497.html

India: Cults will remain as long as there’s political patronage, superstitious Indians

Hindustan Times, August 31, 2017

Cults will remain as long as there’s political patronage, superstitious Indians

For as long as large sections of Indians remain superstitious and have blind faith in fraudulent dispensers of divine blessings, they will continue to grow, especially if political patronage remains forthcoming

Chandan Mitra

There was never a dearth of sadhus in India that attracted cult following with which came vast donations and an army of followers ready to obey their every command(Manoj Dhaka/HT)

An abiding news picture of the 1980s was that of the then Lok Sabha speaker Balram Jakhar getting literally kicked on his head by a sparsely-clothed emaciated man sitting on a machan. The look of pure bliss on the face of the recipient of the kick was difficult to miss for this apparently symbolised the blessings of the machan-man.
The giver of this unusual method of blessing was an obscure godman, Deoraha baba, whose kick on a devotee’s head supposedly led to fame and fortune. The baba who suddenly shot into fame around that time was said to never descend to the ground, having vowed to live forever on a tree! While the godman’s eccentricity could be overlooked, what was astonishing was the list of his visitors — a veritable Who’s Who — men not only educated but powerful, holding important positions in government and even academia.
Perhaps the vulnerability of politicians and their unsatiated greed for power and position make them easy targets of godmen, but such babas in turn thrive on the endorsement from the high and mighty. There was never a dearth of sadhus in India that attracted cult following with which came vast donations and an army of followers ready to obey their every command.
It is however remarkable that in recent years the cult of such godmen has not only grown, but their followers have become increasingly violent, ready to confront the State and shed blood. The irony is that such cults have expanded even as India has risen to become an IT giant, sent sophisticated rockets into space and established an enviable record in science and technical education. The further irony is that persons with top qualifications from Indian and foreign universities often join such cults and use their talents to serve the nefarious designs of megalomaniacal gurus.
The tragic happenings in Panchkula and elsewhere last Friday after one such megalomaniac with a criminal mindset was convicted of rape are the latest example of the nexus between politics and fraudulent babadom. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh ran a well-oiled empire from his citadel or Dera in Sirsa where thousands of devotees believed him to be an incarnation of god. With a huge following among lower caste Hindus and Sikhs, he had politicians at his beck and call for they knew one signal from him could ensure tens of thousands of votes for their party. He had no particular ideological predilection, having played footsie with most parties in Punjab and Haryana where his support base was significant.
Not Singh alone, but various babas have been convinced of their own invincibility. This in turn often caused them to over-reach and invite their own doom. Singh, a barely literate villager, started dispensing spirituality although he led a life of ostentatious indolence and aspired to rock star status. Two films produced by him may have bombed at the box office but this failure had no impact on his cult following.
In this he was somewhat different from other cult leaders such as the one who led hundreds of his devotees to death near Mathura last year after setting up a commune of sorts from where he thought he could wage war against the State in the name of Subhas Chandra Bose.
Such cults are not to be found in India alone. Many would recall the mass suicide by devotees of a Christian cult in the United States about two decades ago. But unlike other countries from which similar instances can be cited, political patronage for cult leaders is probably unique to India.
As Indian elections become fiercely competitive and identity the major determinant of electoral choice, these cults have the capacity to barter support in exchange for official favours. Leaders of organised religious groups too are not averse to strike such deals. Political chieftains routinely make a beeline for sadhus, maulanas and padres to seek their blessings for electoral gain. In exchange, such groups are promised land allotments and protection from possible police harassment.
Smaller religious sects being more organised and disciplined are more adept at cutting such bargains. For example, a sect called the Matua, comprising mainly lower caste adherents in West Bengal and led by two rival godmothers, shoots into the news before every election. Several Muslim pirs too find political leaders knocking at their doors in the hope that they would influence followers’ voting preference.
Usually, this is how it starts. And before long ambitious babas, pirs and evangelist preachers acquire larger than life status. Some of them establish a state within a state, as in the case of Dera Sacha Sauda. By the time politicians realise and start to repent, matters go out of hand.
But will the Dera tragedy put a stop to this? Most unlikely, for as long as large sections of Indians remain superstitious and have blind faith in fraudulent dispensers of divine blessings, they will continue to grow, especially if political patronage remains forthcoming.
Chandan Mitra is editor of The Pioneer and has been two-time Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP

India: Purification ritual held before UP chief minister Aditya Nath occupies official residence

[उत्तर प्रदेश के नए मुख्यमंत्री और गोरक्षपीठ के पीठाधीश्वर महंत योगी आदित्यनाथ सोमवार को लखनऊ के सरकारी आवास 5 कालिदास मार्ग पर जाएंगे। लेकिन उनके यहां पहुंचने से पहले मुख्यमंत्री आवास का शुद्धिकरण किया गया। इसके लिए वैदिक आचार्य रामअनुज त्रिपाठी की अगुवाई में पांच सदस्यीय दल गोरखपुर से रविवार रात लखनऊ पहुंच गया था।]

https://hindi.sabrangindia.in/article/shuddhikaran-of-uttar-pradesh-cm-house

NDTV debate in Hindi: प्राइम टाइम : बढ़ती कट्टरता का प्रतिरोध, कलाकार से इतिहासकार तक बाग़ी

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/prime-time/prime-time-the-growing-resistance-to-intolerance-from-artists-to-historians/388794?relatedviaplayer

India: Why the Sanatan Sanstha doesn't like rationalists (Ipsita Chakravarty)

scroll.in

Very superstitious: Why the Sanatan Sanstha doesn't like rationalists
The group seems to thrive on a potent cocktail of nationalist Hindutva, occult and doomsday panic

by Ipsita Chakravarty

Samir Gaikwad, the man from Sangli who was arrested on charges of being involved in the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare, has been a member of an organisation called Sanatan Sanstha since 1998. The name of Sanatan Sanstha also cropped up when another rationalist, Narendra Dabholkar, was killed in 2013. The police had then tried but failed to establish a link between the murder and the group.

After Dabholkar’s death, an editorial in Sanatan Prabhat, the organisation’s mouthpiece, had said, “We all get what we deserve”. Now, it has released a press note on the “police ploy to implicate innocent Samir Gaikwad”. It then outlines this conspiracy: the police went through “2 crore call data records” and chose to search only Gaikwad’s number, due to “pressure from anti-Sanatan elements”. Gaikwad had been arrested on Wednesday and produced in court almost immediately, the note says, proof that his judicial remand was pre-planned and motivated.

But why would anti-Sanatan elements want to draw the police’s attention to the group again? What is the sanstha all about?

The charitable sanstha

In 2008, members of the organisation were arrested for plans to plant a crude bomb in a theatre in Thane, where a controversial Marathi play was to be staged. The sanstha is also known for issuing death threats to supporters of the anti-superstition bill in Maharashtra. When Pansare spoke against them in 2009, they filed a Rs 10-crore defamation suit against him.

But in Goa, the sanstha is registered merely as a charitable organisation. Formed in 1990 by Jayant Balaji Athavale, it operates mainly in Goa and Maharashtra. Going by the organisation’s website, its charity consists of “providing education on Dharma in scientific terminology and for the education of Hindus”.

The website speaks of a group with eclectic interests. There is a catalogue of articles musing on long hair (men should wear it short and women long for maximum spiritual benefit), who can be called a Hindu (those who accept the Vedas and the Puranas and are born into a traditional Hindu family), registered marriage (yes or no?), washed versus unwashed clothes, and a conspiracy by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to defame the sanstha.

This seems to be a nuts and bolts version of Hindutva, not quite glamorous enough for a group with bomb blast charges under its belt.

Spiritual Science Research

A closer look at Athavale’s own pursuits begins to reveal why rationalists like Pansare and Dabholkar might have been unpalatable to the sanstha. A serene, smiling man, he is also the founder of the Spiritual Science Research Foundation, which aims to “educate society on the spiritual dimension and how it affects our lives”. The organisation’s website gives an account of Athavale’s personal journey.

Back in the 1970s, he was a “consultant clinical hypnotherapist” who had a “cure rate of 70%”. At this point of time, he was also an atheist. Until he discovered that some of the patients he couldn’t cure had been able to get the job done by visiting sacred places, consulting holy men and performing religious rituals. Athavale had a change of heart: “Slowly, He began to realise that the science of Spirituality was far superior to physical and psychological science.” He began to practise this science, with the blessings of his guru, Bhaktaraj Maharaj.

The SSRF lists the common spiritual problems the people have to deal with in their everyday lives. These problems can be sensed through a “highly activated sixth sense”, which is able to perceive an unseen world of angels and heaven. The sixth may also be used to detect restive ancestral spirits, ghosts, demons and other negative influences, as well as the ebb and flow of energy through the body.

In short, superstition. It is a worldview radically opposed to that of the rationalists, who think that what is empirically observable is all that can be known, who reject the idea of universal knowledge or even the possibility of having “definite knowledge” about the past and the future.

'The Sanatan Prabhat'

In this month’s issue of the Dainik Sanatan Prabhat, however, Athavale branches into theological speculation, compiled as a “Treasure of Thoughts on the Nation and Dharma”. In its paranoias about an avalanche of destruction that is just around the corner and its insistence on separating the pure believers from the impure, the tract is not unlike some of the Islamic State’s flights of fancy.

The gist of the treasure trove is this: Kaliyuga is here so pretty much everyone is going to be wiped out in some unnamed calamity, only genuine “Sattva-Hindus” will be saved, Hindus who have “no love lost for the Nation and Dharma” are in for it, don’t waste time building temples, just run for your life, but while you’re at it, make sure that Muslims don’t come back to rule Bharat. Finally, “why rationalists and those with faith in a ‘scientific’ attitude possess limited knowledge [sic]?” It’s because they have an ego.

A number of article in the Prabhat are listed under “Attacks on Dharma”. The perils are numerous and come from varied sources. The first of these are “mighty Hindu organisations” who stay silent while the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Goa bars Pramod Mutalik, president of the Sriram Sena, from entering the state. Then there is the ISIS, bent on turning India into Khurasan, Tehelka magazine, which calls Bal Thackeray a terrorist, the Kashmiri youth, the Delhi Police, the Congress, Goans taking Portuguese citizenship, bikinis.

The group seems to thrive on a potent cocktail of nationalist Hindutva, occult and doomsday panic. But whether this is enough to drive its members to kill rationalists like Pansare and Dabholkar is for the police to find out and the courts to decide.

India - Karnataka: Is govt playing soft Hindutva politics?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/RATIONALISTS-QUESTION-Is-govt-playing-soft-Hindutva-politics/articleshow/48965288.cms

RATIONALISTS QUESTION - Is govt playing soft Hindutva politics?
TNN | Sep 15, 2015, 08.17 AM IST
BENGALURU: With the government pushing the proposed Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill, 2013 into cold storage, questions are now being asked whether the Congress is playing soft Hindutva politics.

Rationalists, who had pinned their hopes on the Siddaramaiah government giving legitimacy to free thinking and raising its voice against religious bigotry, are now certain the proposal of an anti-superstition bill will not go beyond its draft stage.

K Marulsiddappa, former professor with Bengaluru University and a litterateur, who was also present in the sessions preceding the preparation of the draft bill, believes that chief minister Siddaramaiah and law minister TB Jayachandra are caught in a situation where they have to advocate for the bill and also please their colleagues who are playing `soft Hindutva'.

"Political parties in our country are not mature enough to understand the need for such legislations.They are more worried over where the Hindu votes will swing in the next general elections. The Congress is playing nothing more than a soft Hindutva card, despite the CM and the law minister trying to market the legislation," Marulsiddappa said.

Rationalists are of the opinion that the government will not table the legislation, but they want the state to at least give rational associations and free-thinking individuals a voice and certain le gitimacy. Professor Narendra Pani, who teaches social sci ences at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) said the first step of bringing a consensus in society towards ree thinking and rationality s by creating awareness.

"Even in the case of un ouchability, the law was there but everyone defied it as it was a matter of belief. Slowly but surely, things started changing with the help of awareness. Even in this case, bringing legislation may increase defiance. So before that, let the government start pushing for social awareness in rational thinking," he said.

RATIONALISTS TO MEET CM

Stung by the news that the government has pushed the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill, 2013 into cold storage, litterateurs and rationalists will raise the matter when they meet chief minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Accompanying the delegation will be l family members of slain rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and MM Kalburgi. The delegation will request the CM to expedite investigation into the Kalburgi murder case.

Condemning the killing of Prof. Kalburgi in Karnataka - Statement by PADS (2 Sept 2015)

PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM (PADS)
Email: info-pads@lycos.com
Telephone contact: Srinivas Rao 09393875195

2 September 2015


Murder of another rational voice against communalism and superstition (P.A.D.S. statement in condemnation of the killing of Prof MM Kalburgi)

The respected and loved Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi was murdered by two unidentified men on August 30 at his home in Dharwad. The seventy seven year scholar was actively researching Vachanas literature of early Kannada and literature produced during the Adil Shahi period in Northern Karnataka. He was a source of wisdom for many students and scholars, and his killers gained access posing as students. He was also a vocal critic of religious superstitions and had been targeted by fundamentalists within his own Lingayat community and by Hindutva organisations. He had received many threats and his house had been attacked with stones and bottles. He was given police protection, which was withdrawn only days before his murder.

Professor Kalburgi’s cold-blooded murder has caused widespread shock and dismay in the literary and intellectual circles of Karnataka. Many protests involving ordinary citizens have been held in Bangalore and Dharwad. At least one Hindutva Bajrang dal activist has publicly welcomed the assassination, warned another rationalist of Karnataka, Prof KS Bhagwan of the same fate.

Prof Kalburgi’s killing comes after the murders of two other prominent critics of religious superstitions. Dr Narender Dabholkar was killed in 2013 in Pune. Trade Unionist and Communist Govind Pansare was killed in Kolhapur in February this year. There are uncanny similarities in the modus operandi of all three cases. It is likely that as in the earlier cases, the police will fail to solve Prof Kalburgi’s murder. In political and social terms, the murder of these three prominent scholars and public figures in India, who raised their voice [against] religious fundamentalism, is similar to the gruesome murders of secular bloggers Niloy Chatterjee, Washiqur Rahman Babu, Avijit Roy, and Ananta Bijoy Dasin in Bangladesh. Democrats of all countries in South Asia face violent threats from religious fundamentalists. The established institutions of criminal justice have failed miserably to counter this threat.

The sequence of murders of rationalist and secular scholars and activists raises a number of issues of grave significance for democracy and secularism. To begin with, the failure of state institutions to prevent these murders and apprehend the criminals is an encouragement to other would-be killers and their masterminds. Is this failure only due to lack of evidence, or due to systemic issues such as the criminalization of the polity and the spread of communal bias? India’s institutions of criminal justice have regularly failed to protect people from intimidation by religious fanatics. Taslima Nasreen and Shireen Dalvi have been hounded by Muslim fundamentalists. Rationalist Sanal Edamaruku has been forced to live in exile due to harassment by Christian zealots.

Communally inspired crimes have also gone unpunished. Over the past decade, many cases of bomb blasts in Muslim areas have seen the police initially arresting numbers of Muslim youth. Later, the hard work of the upright police officer Hemant Karkare revealed the role of Hindutva extremist groups in those crimes. Recently the public prosecutor in Malegaon blast case, Ms Rohini Salian has publically claimed that the National Investigation Agency asked her to deliberately sabotage the state case against the accused. Is it really an accident that India’s intelligence agencies and police have no case to make about certain extremist organisations?

The murders of three prominent Indian rationalists have occurred in the geographically compact region of Western Maharashtra and the contiguous area of Karnataka, within bustling cities. All three had received prior threats from identified groups. The police’s failure to nab the culprits is not only professionally shameful but increasingly appears to be deliberate.

After Dr Dabholkar’s murder, the Congress government in Maharashtra had eagerly pushed his anti-superstition bill in the assembly, where it had been languishing for more than a decade. Now, the Congress government in Karnataka has given full state honours to Prof Kalburgi during his funeral. It is clear that the largest opposition party in the country is eager to lap whatever secular credentials it can gather, after the event so to say, but is neither capable, nor inclined to take a principled stand on secularism and democracy. Aam Aadmi Party too has hobnobbed with all kinds of religious leaders and groups, and has sided with the Hindutva brigade in the recent decision to rename the Aurangzeb road in Delhi. The CPI(M) had forced Taslima Nasreen out of Kolkata after demands by Muslim fundamentalists there. These [political] parties may be non-communal, but their secularism is opportunistic and they have no compunction in bowing to the undemocratic demands of fanatics. There is little chance that India’s established [political] parties will take a pro-active stand against threats to democracy and secularism. Democratic and secular forces need to mobilize urgently to spread the message that democracy is impossible without secularism.

An FIR was filed against Prof MM Kalburgi last year for ’hurting religious sentiments of a community’ after he came out in support of writer UR Ananthamurthy’s statements against idol worship. Now, many news-media have reported that he ’courted’ controversies by campaigning against superstition. An attempt is being made to equate the intellectuals who stand for reason, discussion and openness, with religious fanatics who advocate violence. Arguments are made condemning the murders, but criticizing them for ‘hurting sentiments.’

We condemn such arguments. Reasoned investigations of society and history; and the questioning of beliefs and openness to diverse cultural strands, are essential for democracy. Modern democracy is premised upon the moral autonomy of every citizen. Humans realise their autonomy when they ask questions, discover new knowledge, and challenge unsubstantiated beliefs, including their own. They forfeit their freedom when they submit to superstitions out of fear or greed. Religious fundamentalists need blind followers, who will obey their agendas of hatred and violence.

A democratic society cannot exist without people like Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi; whereas communalists and fanatics of all colours are enemies of democracy. Any effort to equate the two is misleading. Even at the level elementary morality, there is a distinction between verbal and rational criticism, and the practice of violence. The choice between the two is essential, and a society cannot be democratic unless majority of the people choose the former over the latter.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism pays homage to Prof Kalburgi and stands with his wife, children and all people of Karnataka who have protested against his murder.

We demand

That the police uphold the obligations of their profession and arrest the murderers of Narendra Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi at the earliest. The masterminds of these murders and their organisations must be identified publicly and given adequate legal punishments.

The laws relating to ’hurt religious sentiments’ should be repealed. If anyone deliberately humiliates or threatens any community through speech or words, laws relating to hate speech should be used.

We also call upon teachers and university trade unions and media workers and writers organisations to support calls for protection of rights of freedom of expression of teachers, scholars, media personnel and literary workers

We call attention of the public to the fact that the electoral successes of the BJP have emboldened Hindutva fundamentalists, who are becoming increasing brazen in their attacks, not only on religious minorities, but on all democratic and secular groups and individuals. Democratic and secular forces should redouble their efforts to mobilise public opinion against these fanatics to uphold and protect the hard-won freedoms of India’s democratic constitution.

Healer Dealer Superstition Preacher on Display Everywhere in India

Photo of a healer dealer performer outside a Delhi public auditorium [Phone and contact details have been removed from the original photo]


The monk who sold a love 'cure'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/deep-focus/The-monk-who-sold-a-love-cure/articleshow/39979093.cms


screen grab of TV show in Hindi
[see the video here: http://youtu.be/A7LTExWk5PA]

Hurdles of faith, politics ahead of India's battle against superstition
Paramita Ghosh, Hindustan Times New Delhi, December 14, 2013
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hurdles-of-faith-politics-ahead-of-india-s-battle-against-superstition/article1-1162637.aspx

Anti-black magic bill not necessary in Goa says Hindu Janajagruti Samiti

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Goa/Anti-black-magic-bill-not-necessary-in-Goa-Hindu-Janajagruti-Samiti/articleshow/39260975.cms

India - Karnataka: 'Made snana' the barbarian ritual continues unabated, govt remains halfhearted about a proposed anti-superstition bill

[Dear Friends
Greetings! The dehumanising practice of rolling over the leftover food of
Brahmin families by the low caste people was held at Kukke Subramanya
Temple located in the Mangalore City in the State of Karnataka in India
once again on December 06, 2013 under heavy police protection. The Police
was deployed to mainly thwart any possible protest by Dalit groups.

There is a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Supreme Court of India
and the final verdict is awaited. When the matter is sub judice, why was
this practice allowed to happen? Why is the State Government of Karnataka
delaying in adopting an Anti-Superstition Act under which these and other
kinds of orthodox and dehumanising/conservative caste related practices
could be banned?

Attached here you will find the photograph of this event which was held on
December 06, 2013. And given below is the news report which has been
published in The Hindu Newspaper.

With Regards
Umakant, Ph.DNew Delhi]

From: The Hindu

Published: December 7, 2013 09:09 IST

Made snana held in Kukke Subramanya temple
Staff Correspondent
Made Snana ritual being performed at the Kukke Subramanya temple in Mangalore on Friday.

Despite the undercurrents over the discussions of the proposed anti-superstition bill, numerous devotees carried out the made snana ritual held at the Kukke Subramanya temple on Friday.

Though official estimates are not out yet, the temple administration believes that a little more than 200 people participated in the ritual. This is up from the nearly 150 devotees, who had participated on the first day of the three-day ritual last year.

After the Brahmin families had their meal around 2 p.m., the doors to the temple were flung open. With the sound of the band playing in the background, the devotees, from various castes, rushed in to perform the ritual.

Covered with vestiges of the meal they had rolled over, the devotees completed their ‘vow’ by washing up at a stream of the Kumaradhara that flows nearby. With the government proposing an anti-superstition bill that aims at reducing “discriminatory practices”, and the Supreme Court considering the matter based on a public interest litigation petition, this could very well be the last time the ritual is performed.

“The Supreme Court has stayed the Karnataka High Court order (dated November 8, 2012) that had sought to modify the ritual. We have left it to the courts and the government to decide on the matter…We have no say in this, but we do not believe this year will be last for the ritual,” said a member of the temple management committee, who did not want to be named.

The High Court order had suggested that the ritual be modified to allow devotees to roll on food that was kept in front of the deity.

With the ritual two years ago seeing devotees assault K.S. Shivaram, a backward classes leader, who called for a ban on the ritual, Friday saw the presence of around 75 policemen posted near the temple. Police said there were no untoward incidents or protests at the venue.

While Mr. Shivaram said there were no scheduled protests at the temple town — citing law and order reasons for the decision — there will be a one-day hunger strike by Dalit groups and progressive seers in Mangalore on Saturday.

Similarly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will protest the ritual in Mangalore on Sunday.

Keywords: Karnataka anti-superstition bill, Kukke Subramanya temple, made snana ritual

Printable version | Dec 8, 2013 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/made-snana-held-in-kukke-subramanya-temple/article5432831.ece

© The Hindu

Bravo comrade Karat for demanding a federal law against superstition, black magic

The Hindu
Mumbai, December 2, 2013

Karat demands Central Act against superstition, black magic

Staff Reporter

CPI(M) general-secretary addressed rally marking 100 days since Dr. Dabholkar’s murder

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general-secretary Prakash Karat on Monday demanded a Central Act to prohibit superstition and black-magic.

He was speaking at the rally organised here to mark the 100th day since the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar.

“We feel that there is a need of a national-level Act like the one in Maharashtra. The issue should be raised in Parliament,” he said, referring to the atrocities and frauds committed by various individuals under the name of god and religion.

The protest march organised prior to the rally was led by the family members of Dr. Dabholkar and attended, among others, by Professor N.D. Patil, senior leader of The Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWPI), and veteran social activist Medha Patkar.

Mr. Karat also slammed the investigating agencies for shoddy investigation in the Dabholkar murder case. Referring to the recent affidavit filed by the Pune police in the Bombay High Court, which claimed no participation of communal forces in the murder, he asked: “When investigating agencies are clueless about the real culprits, how can they readily give a clean chit to them?” He called for a Special Investigation Team to investigate the case.

Dr. Dabholkar was shot dead by unknown assailants on August 20, 2013 in Pune, while on a morning walk. “We want the State government to pass the Anti-black-magic Act in the coming winter session. The police have no clue, even after 100 days, about [Dr. Dabholkar’s] murderers. We want the State government to speed up the investigation in this case,” said Avinash Patil, Executive President of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), which was founded by Dr. Dabholkar.

Following the murder of Dr. Dabholkar, the State government cleared the ordinance of the Anti-black-magic Act.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil on Monday announced that the Bill would be presented in the Maharashtra Assembly on December 8, during the winter session at Nagpur.

Dr. Dabholkar’s family has stressed that their priority was to pursue the clearance of the Bill in the Assembly’s winter session.

Dr. Dabholkar’s son Hamid on Monday told The Hindu that the family was not exploring any demand for a probe by a Special Investigation Team or the CBI at present.

India: Karnataka BJP held worship rituals to ‘protect’ Modi from the evil eye

Karnataka BJP holds pujas to ‘ protect’ Modi

By Vanu Dev in Bangalore

THE BJP feels that its detractors are casting an evil eye on the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the wake of recent Patna serial bomb blasts that allegedly targeted him.

And the party’s Karnataka unit is making all efforts to ward off “evil spirits that are working against his upcoming Bangalore rally”. On Friday, a host of state BJP leaders descended on Palace Grounds in Bangalore — the venue of Modi’s November 17 rally — to “ cleanse” the place.

The leaders’ brigade led by Karnataka’s former deputy chief minister and BJP leader R. Ashoka performed a series of pujas, including Gana homa , Mruthyunjaya homa and Subramanya homa at the venue. [. . .].

Above photo and report excerpt from Mail Today, 11 November 2013
http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=11112013

India - Karnataka: VHP, Bajrang Dal oppose anti-superstition Bill

The Hindu,
Mangalore, November 18, 2013

VHP, Bajrang Dal oppose anti-superstition Bill

Special Correspondent

Expressing fear that the proposed anti-superstition Bill would endanger Hindu traditions, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal have said they would launch a series of protests and a legal struggle against the Bill.

A meeting of astrologers, temple administrators, and regional leaders of Hindu organisations held on Saturday on the demerits of the Karnataka Superstitious Practices Bill 2013, the draft of which was submitted by the National Law School of India University.

During the meeting, the astrologers defended their trade by citing ‘scientific principles’ behind their practice; temple administrators feared that certain traditions, including narrating tales of the miracles of gods and goddesses, would be prohibited; while others believed traditional dance forms of Yakshagana and Bharatanatyam would be banned.

Addressing reporters , VHP Karnataka Zone President M.B. Puranik, said the Bill was targeting the Hindu religion. “The Congress government has taken a few regressive practices of the religion, and exaggerated it. Not all aspects of belief are superstition. Temple administrators and astrologers should be taken into confidence before drafting this Bill,” he said. “There are a lot of legal problems with the Bill, and we will take it to the court.”

Keywords: anti-superstition Bill, Hindu traditions, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal

India: Inflammatory Posters in Trains Leaving for Gujarat

Posters with Hindu saints, who have faced and are facing action for different crimes, appeared in different compartments of trains leaving for Gujarat. The saints shown in the poster are Shankaracharya (Shankar Raman murder case), Swami Nityanand (Sex scandals) Baba Ramdev (mixing bone powder in medicines), Asaram Bapu (rape molestation), Kripaluji Maharaj (Molestation). The text says that Hindu society is under siege and the guides of Hindu society are being harassed. In the posters Subramaniam Swami of BJP is quoted as saying that as per the verdict of his legal team Asaram Bapu is innocent. The poster says that there is a conspiracy against Hindu society; its saints are being hounded. This is an attack on Hindu culture.

This poster is very inflammatory and divisive. All the citizens of the country have to follow the laws of the land. Asaram’s son Narayan Sai is absconding from last several days. Nobody can be above law. The police authorities must get the posters removed and take immediate action against those who have put up these posters.

Ram Puniyani

All India Secular Form

Meera Nanda on India’s superstition industry | Frontline

Frontline, 18 September 2013
Cover Story

In the name of faith

Asaram Bapu’s alleged sexual assault on a young girl offers an opportunity to throw light and lift the veil on the state-temple-corporate complex. By MEERA NANDA

http://www.frontline.in/cover-story/in-the-name-of-faith/article5137396.ece?homepage=true&css=print

India: The place is carmmed with “godmen”, quacks hawking dodgy medicines and palmists (The Economist)

From: The Economist
Banyan Blog

Atheism in India
He’s not the son of God
Aug 22nd 2013, 13:23 by A.R. | DELHI

INDIA is so crammed with colourful “godmen”, quacks hawking dodgy medicines and palmists to trace your fate, it is easy to miss the mild-mannered rationalists in the scrum. Extreme followers of Kali, the goddess of power, occasionally still leave a decapitated human sacrifice at one of her temples, provoking a storm of attention and debate. But when a group of unbelievers organised a “hug an atheist day” on June 7th nobody noticed.

It took the murder on August 20th of an anti-superstition campaigner to remind India of the lot of its faithless. Narendra Dabholkar was on a regular morning stroll, in Pune, Maharashtra, when a pair of hitmen parked their motorbike and shot him dead (mourners paid their respects in traditional fashion, pictured above). He had campaigned for 18 years against those who pretend to use, or offer protection from, the arts of black magic or other religious or mystical harassment. He wanted a law to prosecute such con artists and to protect their victims from extortion and bullying.

A local sect and assorted Hindu right-wingers opposed his law, which Maharashtra’s state government finally agreed to enact, in Mr Dabholkar’s memory, on August 21st. He had received death threats before. The chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan, compared the killing of the rationalist to the murder of India’s most revered figure, saying that “just as Gandhi was killed by those who could not digest his thoughts…[Mr Dabholkar] too was eliminated”.

Who did so remains unclear, though the law he advocated must have threatened lucrative activity of various local groups. Indian atheists generally have an easier time than those elsewhere in South Asia. Prominent figures including the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the current defence and home ministers, plus the chief minister of Karnataka state, are cheerily irreligious. Buddhists, Jains and many Hindus hold no particular belief in God. Humanist groups abound and the taboo against refusing to express religious belief is falling. A survey in May found 81% of Indians were religious, a fall from 87% in 2005.

Yet powerful groups remain to exploit superstition and religious fear. “Even now we have witch-hunting: people who are branded as witches and either killed or extorted for money”, says Sumitra Padmanabhan, the editor of the Freethinker, a humanist magazine in Kolkata. She lists a baffling range of charlatans in the state of West Bengal: sellers of gemstones with supposedly therapeutic powers, providers of talismans and amulets, purveyors of cosmetics with magical properties.

She argues for a nationwide law along the lines of Mr Dabholkar’s in Maharashtra. Without it, she says, going to the police does little good. Often “they believe in superstition too”. Nor is education a simple cure. Even the most learned Indians will arrange a marriage, or pick a wedding date, only after consulting an astrologer.

(Picture credit: AFP)

India: Reason must triumph over blind faith (Praful Bidwai)

THE assassination of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune is a black mark on Indian society. Forces of intolerance, superstition, irrationality and reaction killed him not because he threatened their faith or freedom, but because he was against exploiting people through black magic, sorcery, and sleights-of-hand while invoking supernatural powers.
http://www.sacw.net/article5457.html

India: Editorial comment on Maharashtra govt's ordinance against superstition and black magic

The Hindu, August 28, 2013

Editorial: Faithful to a cause

Public outrage over the brutal slaying of renowned rationalist Narendra Dabholkar finally forced the Maharashtra government’s hand in clearing an ordinance against superstition and black magic. Based on a bill that Dabholkar championed for almost 20 years, it could be the first such legislation in India. The ordinance is a path-breaking one in a country which lionises godmen and is steeped in obscurantism. It seeks to curtail superstitious practices which are “misused to exploit people” or cause them “financial or physical harm.” Dabholkar did not target religion and concerned himself only with the misuse of faith to victimise innocents. The law he drafted — which faced years of opposition from political and religious groups — follows this impulse. The ordinance, which will have to be ratified by the State Assembly, seeks to ban a range of superstitious practices including “black magic,” displaying so-called miracles to earn money, or insisting that mantras, not medicines, will cure critical injuries like snakebites. Also, assaulting and humiliating people under the guise of exorcising ghosts, and the sexual exploitation of women after claiming supernatural powers will also be banned. Complaints are to be probed by trained policemen and can even be lodged by third parties not involved in an exploitative ritual.

While inculcating a scientific temper is one of the Constitution’s Fundamental Duties vide. Article 51 A (h), seeking to regulate personal faith and beliefs is always tricky. The Bill underwent as many as 29 drafts and was introduced several times without success. Many saw it as an impediment to the freedom of religion and feared it would even ban poojas where the priest was paid for his services. Or painful, self-inflicted religious practices. Pontiffs felt vulnerable to complaints by motivated individuals. There were concerns that religious pilgrimages would be monitored, even stopped. But Dabholkar had argued these fears were unfounded. The ordinance targets forced and exploitative practices, not those that are voluntary or that do not take a physical or financial toll on people. Chanting mantras on a personal level to ward off evil spirits will not constitute an offence. But forcing an expensive, exorcism ritual could attract a complaint.

Weeding out motivated complaints and distinguishing a forced ritual from a voluntary one will be a serious challenge. Yet, ensuring that a law which opposes a society’s entrenched beliefs is actually enforced is perhaps the greater challenge. The law will gain greater meaning when there is a parallel process of social reform and education against superstition, the very tradition that Dabholkar himself epitomised.

The Dilemmas and Challenges faced by the Rationalist Indian | T V Venkateswaran (EPW)

From: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 36, September 07, 2013

The Dilemmas and Challenges faced by the Rationalist Indian
by T V Venkateswaran

The murder of the anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar points to the society’s intolerance of criticism against religious beliefs and practices. The rampant misuse of Section 295A of the Indian penal code, which penalises “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings”, needs to be curbed. Unless space is provided for constructive and rational criticism, social reforms to stamp out regressive and evil practices cannot be undertaken.

The murder of renowned rationalist Narendra Dabholkar on the streets of Pune on 20 August, 2013, was a wake-up call for the nation. While out on his morning walk, two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle fired at him from close range near the Omkareshwar bridge. As the news of his gruesome murder spread, spontaneous demonstrations took place across Maharashtra. In his home town Satara, thousands came out to pay tribute to this leading light of the anti-superstition movement who had taken on many a self-appointed godmen. The all-party bandh called the next day was near complete with willing participants closing their businesses and shops. The chilling effect of the premeditated murder reverberated throughout the state. Witnessing the public outrage, the state cabinet hastily promulgated an anti-superstition ordinance based on the “Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill”. Dhabolkar had been relentlessly campaigning for the adoption of this bill, which has been languishing in the assembly for many years.

The Anti-Superstition Crusader

Although Dabholkar’s reformist ideas often led to confrontation, he always sought compromise and reconciliation. Firm in his conviction, he was altogether non-violent in his approach. He met his shrill and abusive opponents with calm and sober arguments and said that “in the struggle to end ignorance he did not need any weapons”. Though Dabholkar had lately received several death threats and hate mails from some Hindu extremist groups, he refused to seek police protection. Who would have imagined that this mild mannered and soft spoken man would end up getting murdered in cold blood?

Though Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindu extremist organisation, suspected of murdering Dabholkar, denied its role in the murder, its ideologue Jayant Athvale in the organisation’s mouthpiece Santhan Prabhat diabolically wrote “it's God’s grace to die in a manner in which Dabholkar died. It is better than dying of a prolonged illness or suffering from pain induced by surgical procedures”.

Dabholkar was a versatile man with a medical degree and a keen interest in social reform. Perhaps, the tenacity with which he pursued the anti-superstition bill for many years came from his training as a kabaddi player. His district team won not only the coveted Ashwini Kumar Bhoir Gold Cup, but he also represented India in a match against Bangladesh in a kabbaddi tournament. Inspired by the Socialist labour leader and social reformer Baba Adhav's “One village, one drinking water well” campaign, Dabholkar quit his lucrative medical profession to undertake social work and cultural reform. He opined that the caste is at the root of inequality in the Indian society, and without a cultural revolution equality was not possible. He strived for the annihilation of the caste system. Just days before his death, Dabholkar appeared on a television panel discussion on the role of caste panchayats in the context of the murder of a girl by her own father in Nashik, as she had dared to marry outside her caste.

In the past thirty years there has been a marked increase in use of religious and sectarian identities for political gains, emergence of irrational cults in the name of religion and the glorification of obscurantist practices in the name of culture. This has provided the ideological basis for, at times, brutal unscientific actions in both public and personal domains. Discrimination based on caste, gender and ethnic identities perpetuated on the basis of irrational beliefs and superstitions is still widely prevalent and is on the rise. In no small measure, the privatisation of electronic media has also had the undesirable effect of providing a platform and visibility to the forces responsible for the spread of irrationality and undermining of the scientific temper.

Open to Misinterpretation: Section 259A

Article 51 A (h) of the Constitution of India urges every citizen “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. However, this endeavour is becoming not just difficult but dangerous and, at times, lethal as in the case of Dabholkar. When intolerance rules the roost, not just taking on superstitious practices, but even activities such as bringing out large number of people to watch the “total solar eclipse”, or a critical appraisal of public policies becomes problematic.

The murder of Dabholkar compels us to ruminate over two dilemmas; free speech versus reasonable restrictions in the light of the section 259A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the contending claims of cultural relativism and social reform.

Indeed as hate speeches silence the minorities and are inimical to democracy, some form of reasonable restrictions appear incumbent. Hate speeches create a volatile situation leading to communal violence. This in turn leads to the ghettoisation of minorities and prevents them from from participating effectively and freely in the democratic process with confidence. In the worst case scenario, as in Rwanda or in Nazi Germany, hate speeches may lead to physical elimination of a section of the population on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, caste, gender or sexual orientation. In a plural society, such as ours, it is necessary not only to respect the different religious beliefs; feelings and practices of all but also protect these from scurrility, vilification, ridicule and hate. However, drawing the line between a hate speech and a rational “condemnation” of practices or religious views is disputatious.

Akin to the hate speech law in the IPC is the contentious section 295A. Lord Macaulay avowing that “I am not a Mussulman; but if I were a judge in India, I should have no scruple about punishing a Christian who should pollute a mosque”, inserted section 295 that criminalises the actions of “whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons”. But a provision under this section which outlaws “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class” has become a bone of contention. Far from protecting social and communal harmony, section 295A has a history of abuse and arbitrary imposition.

The Supreme Court in the light of the freedom of speech guaranteed under the section 19 of the Indian Constitution, in the “Ramji Lal Modi vs State of Utter Pradesh” stated that “295A does not penalize any and every… insult to or attempt to insult the religion or the religious beliefs' but ...it penalizes only those acts [or] insults to or those varieties of attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of a class of citizens, which are perpetuated with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of the class”. The court made a distinction between intentional insults that clearly had a “calculated tendency” to “disrupt the public order” and “insults to religion offered unwittingly or carelessly or without any deliberate or malicious intention”. Yet history is replete with instances of abuse and harassment of those who take up cudgels against superstition and the so called godmen.

Abuse of Section 295A: Some Examples

Take the case of two young women in Mumbai who were recently arrested for posting an innocuous comment on Facebook which described the reaction of the city to the death of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray as disproportional. The police booked them under the notorious 295A of IPC. It is another matter that the case was dropped and the officers responsible for the arrest were suspended for overreacting. How can we expect democracy to flourish and thrive if one cannot boldly express contentious views without fear or threat?

Or take the case of Sanal Edamaruku who for now more than a decade along with his colleagues from the Indian Rationalist Association has been promoting reason and humanism. He and members of his innovative "Rationalist Reality Theatre" group visit villages dressed as godmen. They perform "miracles" before the audience who think that they are actually witnessing miracles performed by holy-men. Then suddenly the activists pull the curtain revealing the scientific basis behind the so called miracles. The intention of such activities is to inculcate scientific temper.

Recently, Edamaruku and his colleagues investigated the alleged miracle of water dripping from the statue of Jesus Christ at the Catholic Church of Our Lady in Vile Parle, Mumbai. After establishing that the cause was just a leaky pipe with water travelling up the statue by capillary action, Sanal appeared on prime time Mumbai TV to debunk the so called miracle. Next day, seventeen complaints were filed against him at various police stations all invoking section 295A of the IPC. Having been denied anticipatory bail and fearing pre-trial imprisonment, Sanal sought refuge in Europe. Most likely Sanal will be discharged of all the accusations levied against him, but it is absolutely certain that he will spend the next several years chasing lawyers and visiting courtrooms.

In February 2010, Hulikal Nataraj, a school teacher and rationalist, in a TV interview had stated that the so called miraculous divine Jyothi at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple was a human creation. This allegedly hurt the sentiment of a Bajarang Dal activist on who’s complaint a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against Nataraj. However, a Karnataka High court judge H N Nagamohan Das not only quashed the case but also indicted the entire system by summoning the home secretary to the court. As a result the increment of the sub-inspector who had attempted to arrest Nataraj was withheld.

When Tamil Nadu Science Forum, an organisation committed to popularisation of science, wanted to arrange for a public viewing of the annual solar eclipse in 2011, and cook and eat food during the eclipse in defiance of the taboo, the police gave their permission reluctantly to hold the event. Rationalist campaigner Narandera Nayak had a brief brush with section 295A when he contended that the cow urine was just like the urine of any other animal and there is nothing sacred about it. When the Kannada movie actress Jayamala allegedly visited the Sabrimala temple violating the taboo, which forbids women in the menstruating age bracket to enter it, the same provision was invoked. The ludicrous extreme to much which this provision could be abused is apparent from the reported arrest of Kartik, a youth, who's crime was to reply to an Hanuman Jayanthi greeting with a comment that “there is no god”. He was taken in police custody on the grounds of “hurting religious sentiments” invoking section 259A.

It is as if anyone can take offense to anything nowadays. Pandering to such intense sensitivity could become counter-productive. Liberal criticism helps expose notorious practices within a religion that may violate human rights. As history has shown evil practices such as Sati or dowry were severely condemned by social reformers even in the face of opposition from groups defending these customs. Subsequently, legislations prohibiting these practices were adopted. No social reform would have been possible if we were intolerant to criticism, or prohibit condemnation of religious and cultural practices. The freedom of religion implies tolerance of offensive or dissenting views. Stifling criticism and rational disapprobation impinges upon the freedom of speech on the one hand and potential reform on the other. There is no right to be not offended.

As the "reasonable restrictions" on free speech in reality are no longer applied in a reasonable way, a chilling atmosphere stifling free speech and thought is created. It is evident that the public sphere is getting more and more stifled with the recurrent abuse of the section 295A.

Though the misuse of section 295A is rampant, its off-hand repeal may be prove to be counterproductive given the fact that hate speeches calculated to raise passions are a reality. Even the severest condemnation by rationalists of some religious practices is inspired by humanism and may at best inspire reform and at worst a conspiracy of silence. But the underlying intention of a hate speech is neither reform nor is the motive humanism. Free speech has to be balanced with other requirements for the democracy to work. Perhaps the urgent need is to recast section 259A on the model of hate speech laws of Canada, South Africa and European Union, and balance the need for critical examination of religion and all cultural practices with the need to protect minorities (religious, cultural, ethnic and sexual orientation etc.) from ridicule and hate.

Cultural Pluralism vs Rationality

Cultural pluralism poses another dilemma. If the French are to be condemned for adopting domestic laws prohibiting the wearing of a veil and branded as intolerant to cultural sensitivities, then can one take offence to the public display of religious symbols, figures, images and artefacts in government offices, religious ceremonies in institutes and religious invocations during inaugurations of scientific conferences? A number of acts such as these, including taking of the miniature rocket to the temple at Tirupati for blessings, are accepted in the name of culture.

This then raises some serious questions? Why ban the sale of amulets, magic stones, talismans, bracelets and charms when we are not ready to ban the sale of “astrological stones”; why ban animal sacrifice for the appeasement of gods or spirits when we are not ready to ban let’s say, brahminical rituals? Do these bans subtly display discrimination, subtly place neo-vedantic religion on a pedestal while demeaning the practices of other cultures? What would be the rationale behind demarcating legitimate religious and cultural practices from ones that need to be prohibited?

Indeed it looks “cool” to be defending the culture or practices of the underdog, however dreadful these might be. But on the ground, when poor and marginalised families fatalistically resort to talisman and charms rather than organise themselves to demand their entitlements, cultural relativism does not seem so charming. When traditions trample human rights, discriminate on the basis of gender and caste, they suddenly appear not so glorious.

A relook at the concept of scientific temper and reform is an urgent task. This cannot be brushed aside as an archaic or a Nehruvian idea. In a multicultural and a pluralist society such as ours, if we need to abjure violence and promote democracy, then we need to engage with these questions intensely and immediately.

T V Venkateswaran, (tvv123@gmail.com) is with Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. The views expressed by the author are personal.

India: Dabholkar’s anti-superstition war demanded a level of introspection of which we are incapable

[. . .] Dr. Dabholkar’s campaign against superstition and inhuman rituals needed a certain level of intellectual introspection. It compelled us to check our position on an abstract concept like faith as opposed to concrete issues like corruption and rape. By ourselves, we do not think there is darkness in our beliefs and thoughts that need to be eradicated. We are just not used to such intellectual abstraction and lack the discipline to challenge our own ‘faith’. Do we realise that many of those young protesters are queuing up for darshan in front of Saturn temples on Saturdays, Sidhdhivinayaks on Tuesdays and Datta temples on Thursdays? Do we get disturbed seeing more youth becoming religious? Do we even observe that most of our neighbours have some spiritual gurus/matas from whom they seek solace? Do we question in our own minds (let alone challenge it publicly) the sponsored, vulgar celebrations on the occasions of Dahi hundi, Ganeshotsav, or Navratri? Do we frown to see our friends’ fingers being adorned with astro-crystals and gemstone rings prescribed by astrologers and godmen? Are we ready to accept that religion and practicing rituals are proving to be our cumulative catharsis? Actually, Dr. Dabholkar did not ever challenge our faith and religious belief. He merely challenged the superstitious practices and unscientific claims of godmen. Yet we simplistically labelled him as anti-Hindu. We did not even attempt to understand the provisions of the Bill proposed by him. If we do not find anything objectionable in scientists like Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or icons like Sachin Tendulkar visiting a “miracle man”, why should we expect the media to engage in an enlightened debate on the bill proposed by Dr. Dabholkar?

Sorry Dr. Dabholkar, we failed you! We are ashamed that we may fail to find your assassins! We are ashamed that we will move on expediently! We are ashamed that we are lethargic bystanders of the present! Sorry Doctor, we never deserved you!
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/sorry-doctor-we-didnt-deserve-you/article5065450.ece