He enjoyed confrontation, but sought compromise and reconciliation. Non-violent in his approach, he had a violent death. He believed in dialogue and was sober during arguments, but his opponents were shrill and abusive. He advocated scientific thinking, but was a strict vegetarian (and a teetotaler). He was a socialist, but not a Marxist. For more than forty years, he worked to build the organization Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti (Association to Abolish Superstition) and established a network of thousands of activists across Maharashtra – rural and urban. He had collected evidence on how thousands of women were victims of superstition and were exploited by sadhus, babas and self-proclaimed tantriks and mantriks. For him, therefore, it was also a struggle to liberate women from the shackles of vicious traditions, rituals and magic. Not only from the so-called gurus, but also from the male members of their families. In rural Mahrashtra, humans were sacrificed as offerings for which women and children were burnt and killed. Their overall number may not be too large, but the impact of those practices was surely huge. He was extremely disciplined and was fastidious about time-management. He was always meticulous in his work – from organizing demonstrations and performances exposing so-called magic and tantra to preparing legislative drafts. He had colleagues and comrades, not ‘followers’. His discussions with volunteers used to be open sessions. They would relate terrifying tales from their villages – which even the police were not aware of or had often connived in. Every time he exposed the exploitation of poor villagers, there would be some sadhu or thug sanyasi protected or sponsored by a politician involved. While the BJP and the Sangh Parivar opposed him ideologically and politically, the Congress ‘welcomed’ his campaign publicly, but did nothing to enact laws to stop these atrocities. For nearly two decades, Dabholkar fought for strict laws against inhuman practices in the name of spirituality and Hindu traditions. The Congress and the Rashtravadi Congress promised him legislation against superstitious practices and made him amend the draft he had prepared, but then talked of legislative difficulties and shelved the draft bill. On one hand, they were afraid of losing the so-called ‘traditional Hindu vote’ and on the other, they themselves were superstitious. So they talked of not ‘hurting the sentiments’ of people and procrastinated. His murder was the logical and ideological culmination – conspired, coordinated and executed in the same way Gandhiji was killed. Nathuram Godse belonged to Pune; 65 years later Narendra Dabholkar was assassinated in Pune.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:43:21 +0000
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