Murder of a reformer

Should Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan have pre-judged the outcome of the investigations into the gruesome murder of the social activist Narendra Dabholkar is a question that has a clear answer. And that is a firm no. For, by publicly anticipating the ideological allegiance of the alleged killers, Chavan may already have hinted to the police as to the direction in which their probe should be looking. Chavan should clarify that he did not want to influence the police investigations. The wellknown social reformer was gunned down by two assailants on Tuesday morning when he was out on a morning walk. Admittedly, Dabholkar had made many enemies ever since he propagated against superstition, black magic, the misuse of religion for profiteering by various fraudulent sadhus and ‘sants,’ claiming to have supernatural powers. Such evils needed to be fought. Significantly, Dabholkar was not against religion. No. But against its exploitation by cunning godmen out to make a quick buck by exploiting the susceptibilities of the god-fearing people. This was abuse of religion. And he was right in making a mission to expose such fraudsters. Ridding religion of various malpractices that had crept into it was his crusade. And it must be carried on by his followers more vigorously to ensure that his death does not go in vain. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra CM should desist from needlessly politicising the murder and allow the police to do its job independently.