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| Narendra Dabholkar |
This is exactly
why politicians can always exploit religion to divide people and create their
vote banks. They know we tend to be dogmatic or intolerant about our religious sentiments,
practices and rituals. We are ready to commit even sins to have the first view
in temples or any place of worship; we can hardly digest any criticism
regarding our beliefs; we take the extreme views as far as our religious
practices are concerned. Therefore, superstitious and black magic rituals get
mixed with our beliefs. Nobody can convince us of the irrationality inherent in
our practices. Result is intolerance and even violence—exactly the way some
political parties want us to do.
At 7.30 in the
morning today a progressive journalist-writer and social worker, Narendra
Dabholkar, was brutally shot dead in Pune, Maharashtra.
Narendra Dabholkar was taking a morning walk when two motorcycle borne assassins
fired indiscriminately at him and fled leaving him in a pool of blood. He was
rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The brutal act
was as shocking as it was stunning for the people of a relatively progressive
and literate state, Maharashtra and its
literally cultural capital Pune.
Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist at heart and he spent all his life in fighting superstition
and black magic in religious beliefs and against all social evils. He founded an
organization, played a key role in several mass movements and wrote several
books on the subject. His website tells you of his intense thoughts on the
subjects. He clarified many times that he was not at all against religions, but against the associated evils. For years he tried to persuade the Government of Maharashtra to pass
an anti-superstition and black magic bill in the legislative assembly and for
the last seven sessions the Bill was proposed to be presented, but it did not
transpire that way. Just before the monsoon session this year the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra promised to get the
bill passed, but ultimately it was not even presented. Naturally for India, several
religious groups and political parties have been opposing the Bill over the years. With the violent end
of this noble crusader the fight against social evils suffers a serious setback
and the cloud of intolerance and fascism is far from over as we have debated so
many times in these pages.
All political
parties of Maharashtra are quick to condemn
the mindless killing and the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has announced an
award of one million rupees to anyone giving clues about the assassins. Investigations
are on and sketches of the assassins have been circulated. As per latest
reports no suspicion has been cast on any particular group or individuals.
We condemn this
cowardly killing and reassert our ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ in a tolerant, rational
and understanding India.
Let the noble soul of the crusader rest in eternal bliss and his movement continue.
Our ardent wish on this Sadbhavana or Goodwill Day today.
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