Sanatan Sanstha rises asagenciesfallshort

A look at how agencies’ failure helped this small group to grow into a rightwing outfit with units across the state and 10,000 followers in 10 years

MUMBAI: How can an outfit linked to crude bomb blasts or the murders of rationalists witness systematic growth? Thanks to the lack of focused action by agencies, claim experts.

Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu group that claims as its mission the protection of India and Hinduism, first made headlines when its alleged members were arrested for planting a bomb at a theatre in Panvel in 2008 to disrupt the screening of the film, Jodhaa Akbar. In the same year, another bomb went off at a theatre in Thane, as mark of protest against a play, Amhi Satpute, with Sanatan Sanstha claiming responsibility for it.

In 2009, alleged members of the outfit were accused of carrying a bomb on a scooter that went off prematurely at Madgaon in Goa. Subsequently, Sanatan Sanstha’s name surfaced when the killings of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Kannada scholars MM Kalburgi and Govind Pansare, and the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh were probed.

Security experts blame the lack of focus among central and state agencies to curtail the group’s activities for systematic diversification of Sanatan Sanstha. From a small organisation, the group now has more than 10,000 active followers. Sources said it has trained at least 50 sharpshooters and planned to assassinate at least 36 prominent members, including police officers.

“It is a systemic failure of the central agencies. They failed to keep a check on the activities of what was nothing more than a group of a few people in 2008. The organisation flourished in the subsequent years, and it has now managed to gain a substantial number of followers. This could prove to be a threat in the days to come,” said a senior Indian Police Service officer, who has been tracking right-wing extremism.

Another retired IPS officer said, “The DG’S office had sent a proposal to ban the outfit after the blasts in 2008 and 2009, but nothing came of it.”

Home ministry sources privy to the proposal said the then Congress-nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led government was not in favour of a ban. “The government wanted to initiate dialogues to keep them under control,” said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.

The government’s unwillingness to ban the outfit may have been because it was legally untenable.

“Sanatan Sanstha operates in a different fashion. Sanatan Sanstha has divided itself into shakhas or units that are spread across the state and don’t have a specific ideology. Each unit is registered as a separate organisation to ensure in case of any criminal investigation, the key leaders or instigators can safely distance themselves from the perpetrators,” said an officer.