Shock, outrage over Dabholkar’s killing

CM has termed the killing as a political murder and said the ideology which assassinated Bapu was responsible for this cruel act

The killing of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was received with shock and anger by leaders across the social and political spectrum. While the Opposition targeted the government for its failure in protecting social workers in the state, the government has indirectly held Hindutva forces responsible for the killing.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has termed the killing of Dabholkar as a political murder and said that the ideology which assassinated Mahatma Gandhi was responsible for this killing too. Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde said the killing of Dabholkar is akin to the murder of all good things in society. "Dabholkar's killing has shown that activists who work fearlessly for social causes, are not safe in the state," Munde said.

NCP president Sharad Pawar too has condemned the killing. "The progressive movement of Maharashtra is now bereft of a face, with the killing of Dabholkar," Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said. "Thoughts cannot be crushed by such cowardly attacks," he added. The cowardly attack is an attack on rationalist thinking, Home Minister R R Patil said.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray blamed the state government, saying the anti-superstition activist was not provided security even though he had received threats to his life earlier.

"The needle of suspicion is pointing towards

Congress-NCP government. Time and again, Dr Dabholkar was receiving threats and I see no action by the government," Raj told reporters here.

Doctor, activist and author

Narendra Dabholkar born on November 1, 1945 and was the youngest of ten siblings, the eldest of whom was late educationist, Gandhian and socialist Devdatta Dabholkar.

Hailing from Satara, Dabholkar studied medicine from Miraj Medical College and practised medicine for about a decade, before taking up social work. He joined Rashtra Seva Dal which was called as a training centre for progressive and socialist movement. In 1977, he joined movement against Emergency and delivered a critical speech against Emergency when he was a government servant. He was sacked from his job.

Pioneer of anti-superstition movement Shyam Manav founded Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti (popularly called as ANIS) in 1982 at Nagpur. He was searching for a social worker to spread his work to out of Vidarbha area. Noted social activist Baba Adhav suggested his name. Around 1985, he started working with Manav till 1989. He left this organisation and set up his own with the name-Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti. He has also authored more than 10 books.