Even as the police has launched a manhunt for Rudra Patil, the prime suspect in the murder of Govind Pansare, an editorial in Saamana, a publication of the Shiv Sena, has caused an uproar in Maharashtra.
Saamana has backed Samir Gaikwad, one of those arrested in the murder.
Gaikwad was arrested on September 16 by the state SIT in Sangli. He has been a member of Sanatan Sanstha, an extreme right-wing organisation which has also been under the police radar for the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune.
Crossing Swords on TV
Meanwhile on news network Times Now, a member of the Sanatan Sanstha and Narendra Dabholkar’s son crossed swords. Here are some excerpts from the TV argument between Naveen Chumal, lawyer of Sanatan Sanstha and Hamid Dabholkar, Narendra Dabholkar’s son:
Naveen Chumal: We are against violence but we have wanted to expose Govind Pansare.
Hamid Dabholkar: How can they say they are against violence when they carry articles that say a ‘Desh Drohi’ should be killed?
Naveen Chumal: We are law-abiding citizens. Anything that is indefensible, if it turns out that we, we will not support. Our ideology is very simple: we will expose all anti-national people.
These people who call themselves rationalists – they should also expose superstition among Christians and Muslims, but they don’t do that.
Hamid Dabholkar: These are completely false allegations. Using this same reasoning, they opposed the Anti-Black Magic Act that has been in existence for one and a half years in Maharashtra. The first case under this act was against a self-proclaimed Muslim baba. The number of people charged under this act is representative of the population.
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