Dilip Simeon's blog

PUNE: Well-known rationalist and anti-superstition crusader  Narendra Dabholkar  was on Tuesday shot dead by two unidentified assailants while on a morning walk near Omkareshwar temple here. The 67-year-old activist was shot from close range and died on the spot.  Police said the assailants fired five bullets at him on Vitthal Ramji Shinde bridge around 7am at the end of his routine morning walk. Three bullets hit Dabholkar, one of them in the head.  A large number of social activists, writers and actors condemned the murder and demanded immediate arrest of the assailants and the mastermind. Besides Pune, rallies were taken out in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nashik and Kolhapur in protest against the killing.  Calling it a "well-planned murder", chief minister  Prithviraj Chavan   said: "Those forces, which could not digest Gandhiji, have killed Dabholkar. The way Gandhiji's voice was silenced, the same has happened with Dabholkar." "Remember Gandhi. Remember ...

PUNE, India — For nearly three decades, an earnest man named Narendra Dabholkar traveled from village to village in India, waging a personal war against the spirit world.  If a holy man had electrified the public with his miracles, Dr. Dabholkar, a former physician, would duplicate the miracles and explain, step by step, how they were performed. If a sorcerer had amassed a fortune treating infertility, he would arrange a sting operation to unmask the man as a fraud. His goal was to drive a scientist’s skepticism into the heart of India, a country still teeming with gurus, babas, astrologers, godmen and other mystical entrepreneurs. That mission ended Tuesday, when two men ran up behind Dr. Dabholkar, 67, as he crossed a bridge, shot him at point-blank range, then jumped onto a motorbike and disappeared into the traffic coursing through this city. Dr. Dabholkar’s killing is the latest episode in a millenniums-old wrestling match between traditionalists and reformers in India. ...

A crusader against fraud godmen and irrational beliefs, Narendra Dabholkar's brutal death has shaken the establishment to the core, much more than his lifelong struggle to eradicate superstitions from society Narendra Dabholkar was a maverick and yet very sensible. Mavericks generally tend to be indifferent to others, self-centered and haughty, but Narendra redefined these maverick attributes. Nevertheless, there were many contradictions in his personality which cannot be explained logically or psychologically. 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. He was an extremely disciplined person and any old-style proud Sangh  swayamsevak  would envy him for that....

Unidentified persons shot at veteran communist leader Govind Pansare (78) and his wife Uma near their residence in Sagarmala, Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, on Monday morning.  The assailants fled from the spot after the attack. Local residents who heard the gun shots around 8:30 am initially thought it was noise of crackers busted for celebrating victory of India over Pakistan in the World Cup cricket match. But soon some residents found Pansares lying in a pool of blood. They were then admitted to a hospital in Kolhapur for treatment. Pansare’s condition was reported to be critical, but stable. His wife Uma was known to be out of danger. Pansare is a well known name in the communist movement and is known to be a critic of right wing groups. Police are probing if his speeches, agitations and movement against the opposite ideology has anything do with the attack. So far there is no clue regarding the assailants.  Ankit Goyal, Additional superintendent of Kolhapur po...

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has not disclosed anything about the status of investigation to the people of Maharashtra in the past five years. Actual probe has been done by Karnataka Police, says Dr. Narendra Dabholkar’s successor Avinash Patil. Next month, it will be six years since Dr.  Narendra Dabholkar , a well respected rationalist and campaigner against superstition from  Maharashtra , was murdered while he was out on a morning walk in Pune. Since then, three more anti-fascist activists who were effective campaigners against right-wing ideas and politics―Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh—have been murdered and investigating agencies believe the murders may be linked. Members of the Sanatan Sanstha have been accused of executing the murders but no one has been convicted so far.  "Remember Gandhi. Remember what we did to him": last threat to Narendra Dabholkar from right-wing organizations // "If anyone must die, let it be me" - Dabholk...

New Socialist  Initiative Invites you to a Public   Meeting on Remembering Dabholkar  Who is Afraid of Reason? Speakers Amitabh Pande (Astronomer and Science Communicator) Gauhar Raza (Scientist, Poet, Social Activist and Film Maker ) Sanjay Kumar  (Teacher, Dept. of Physics, St. Stephens' College and NSI Activist) 30th August, 2013; 5 pm onward  SPWD Conference Hall, 14 A, Vishnu Digambar Marg, ITO. Between Hindi Bhavan and Ajoy Bhavan Background Note Well known rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was murdered on Aug 20 on a busy street in Pune. From all evidence his killing was a well planned conspiracy. Dr. Dabholkar was a lifelong campaigner against superstition, blind faith, and godmen who exploited the gullible. His murder shocked many in Maharashtra. Citizens of Satara, his hometown, observed a spontaneous bandh. The city of Pune observed perhaps the first non-political shut down in its history in his memory. Popular sentime...

The social activist and veteran Communist leader is no more. But his voice will live on. His supporters are ensuring that it will. They had launched a fast-unto-death after Govind Pansare and his wife were shot at when they were returning from their routine morning walk in Kolhapur. In Pune, supporters of Pansare and his views started the fast in protest against the attack. The leader passed away in Mumbai on Friday and his mortal remains were consigned to flames on Saturday in Kolhapur. There is anger among the activists. They have resolved to continue their agitation until the state government “wakes up and acts decisively against the killers”.  Harshal Lohakare, Ashwini Satav Doke, Rajan Dhandekar and Hanumant Pawar started their fast on Monday, seeking immediate arrest of the killers of Pansare. On Saturday afternoon, blood tests on the activists showed a fall in blood sugar. They were advised by doctors to get admitted to hospital. The activists refused to comply. “We are...

Pune :  Renowned anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, who was pushing for a law against superstition and black magic, was shot dead this morning in Pune in Maharashtra. Dr Dabholkar was on his morning walk when he was shot dead near the Omkareshwar Bridge in the city by gunmen on a motorcycle. The police said four shots were fired at him at close range, two of which hit him in the back of his head. The killing sparked anger and grief in his hometown Satara, 100 km from Pune. Large crowds gathered at his home and some took out a protest march. Many locals also kept their shops shut.  Announcing   R s.  10 lakh for any information on the murder, the Maharashtra government called it a planned killing and slammed the police for failing to protect the senior activist.  "The incident is a blot on the state police and the government," said Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Dr Dabholkar's murder comes days after the Maharashtra government...

In September 2009, the famous rationalist Basava Premananda of Kerala fell severely ill. He had stomach cancer and many of his major organs were close to collapse. He was admitted to a hospital in Coimbatore where he would eventually die a few weeks later. During this period, a rumour began to circulate that the fearless atheist Premananda, who had survived innumerable assassination attempts, exposed and challenged many godmen and even taken Satya Sai Baba to court, had turned to God in his last days. When Premananda’s long-time confidant and protégé Narendra Nayak visited him, the 80-year-old was drowsy and unresponsive. But when Nayak informed him of the rumour, he opened his eyes to ask, “Who says that?” On Nayak’s suggestion, Premananda issued a declaration that he was still a rationalist and believed that his death would leave nothing other than his body—which was to be donated to a medical college—with no soul or spirit to trouble anyone. Recalling the rumour campaign now, Nay...

NB - After this latest outrage by the obscurantist hooligans it is clear that the fascist elements on India are determined to silence all critical voices, and impose their own world view on all of us by force and terror. There is circumstantial evidence that the men who carried out this latest assassination of an elderly and respected figure in Maharashtrian society belong to the same group that murdered the well-loved rationalist Narendra Dabholkar last year, as he had indeed been threatened by reminders of the fate of Dabholkar. In turn, the latter had been told to ' remember Gandhi '.  Pansare's death caused by silent support of govt: Maharashtra activists slam BJP Remembering CPI stalwart Govind Pansare Those who doubt that the steady criminalisation of the Indian polity has gathered velocity in the past few months, may note that the people who take pride in assassinating old men have no hesitation in letting us know what they are capable of. How far the senior ...