The Sanatan Sanstha and the Hindu Janjagrati Samiti (HJS) were opposed to the Anti-Superstition Act as it was against the Hindu religion, a witness in the murder case of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare said on Monday.
Dr. Durgesh Samant, who was part of the Sanstha till 2007, told the Kolhapur Police’s Special Investigation Team, which is investigating the case, that the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti headed by Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was damaging the Hindu religion and opposing the Sanstha’s customs and practices. Dr. Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune in August 2013.
He also told the SIT that Dr. Dabholkar was making considerable efforts to get the State government to approve the Anti-Superstition Act. “We, the Sanstha and HJS, were opposing the Act as, in our opinion, it was against Hindu religion,” he said.
Dr. Samant said Dr. Virendra Tawde was working as the Maharashtra Organiser of the HJS. In 2005, he worked as the HJS’s national spokesman. The HJS is affiliated to the Sanstha. He said HJS works through the Sanstha for propagating Hinduism.
On July 8, 2007 Dr. Samant wrote an email to Dr. Tawde asking him to oppose the Bill and the Anti Superstition Committee, to which he received a positive reply the same day. The subject was Andhrashraddha Nirmoolan Bill, and the email read: “Dear Dr. Tawde, Needs your urgent attention. You better concentrate on this from now onwards leaving everything (HJS Projects) aside —— Durgesh.”
Advocate Sanjiv Punalekar, another witness in the case who has defended many blast accused affiliated to the Sanastha and HJS, said the HJS works to create awareness about Hinduism and to fight for the rights of Hindus. He said many HJS activists in Maharashtra took guidance from him, discussing problems on exploitation, that is, insulting treatment being meted out by the government like not giving permission for conducting Hindu religious programmes.
Rudra Patil, an absconding accused in the Pansare murder, told Mr. Punalekar that the government gives Rs. 50 lakh in grants to minority-run schools, but not to Hindu schools. This, he said, was an injustice, and told Mr. Punalekar that he wants to file a writ petition in the High Court in this context.
He said that a forum of 140 advocates has been created for fighting cases against seekers in Sanathan and HJS. He said he lends full support to the book Kshtra Dharm Sadhana by Sanatan Sanstha founder Dr. Jayant Athawale, and completely agrees with his thoughts.