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India anti-superstition campaigner Narendra Dabholkar shot dead
BBC News - India anti-superstition campaigner Narendra Dabholkar shot dead
India anti-superstition campaigner slain
India anti-superstition campaigner slain - World - CBC News
BBC News - India anti-superstition campaigner Narendra Dabholkar shot dead
20 August 2013 Last updated at 06:35 ET Share this pageEmailPrint
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India anti-superstition campaigner Narendra Dabholkar shot dead
A high-profile Indian anti-superstition activist, who was campaigning for a law to ban black magic, has been shot dead in the city of Pune, police say.
Narendra Dabholkar, 71, was attacked by two gunmen on motorbikes while he was taking his morning walk.
He was known for founding the Committee for the Eradication of Blind Faith more than 20 years ago.
Critics accused him of being anti-religion in a country where mysticism and spirituality is venerated.
But in an interview with the Agence France-Presse news agency two years ago he rejected such charges.
"In the whole of the bill, there's not a single word about God or religion. Nothing like that. The Indian constitution allows freedom of worship and nobody can take that away," he said.
"This is about fraudulent and exploitative practices."
Mr Dabholkar and his committee (Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti) was particularly well-known for openly criticising some of India's so-called "godmen", the self-styled Hindu ascetics who claim to perform miracles and are revered by many. He also campaigned against animal sacrifices used in certain rituals.
The chief minister of Maharashtra state expressed his grief at the murder and announced a reward for any information.
Media reports say his killing comes days after the state government said it would introduce the controversial anti-superstition bill.
India anti-superstition campaigner slain
India anti-superstition campaigner slain - World - CBC News
India anti-superstition campaigner slain
Narendra Dabholkar, 72, wanted to eradicate black-magic in India
By Farida Hussain, CBC News Posted: Aug 20, 2013 11:07 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 20, 2013 3:34 PM ET
A Hindu tantric holds skulls as he performs black magic. Anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, 72, was shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle while on his morning walk. Dabholkar openly criticized 'godmen' and tantrics who take advantage of people's religious devotion. (Sucheta Das/Reuters)
An anti-superstition campaigner in India has been slain by gunmen on a motorcycle.
Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, 72, who led a committee for the eradication of blind faith (Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti), was found outside in a pool of blood Tuesday morning in Pune, southeast of Mumbai, and rushed to a hospital where he died.
Dabholkar, a celebrated rationalist, was at the forefront of a movement to legislate against superstition in a country where bogus witchcraft guised as religious ceremony regularly gets the better of both educated and uneducated Indians.
His death comes days after the Maharashtra state government announced plans to introduce a controversial anti-superstition bill, one that Dabholkar has been pushing for the last 14 years, much to the consternation of Indian right-wing groups.
I'm fighting against religious practices that are 5,000 years old," said Dabholkar in an Indian Express newspaper interview published on his committee website. "I am asking people to rethink.
Dabholkar's committee members note that they aren't against God and religion as much as they are against bogus rituals, sacrifices and fraudulent "godmen" with dubious origins.
'I'm fighting against religious practices that are 5,000 years old.'
Dr. Narendra Dabholkar
Deepak J. Girme, a volunteer with the anti-blind-faith committee for nearly 20 years, told CBC News Dabholkar had received death threats in the past, but never thought the "terrorists" would actually go through with it.
Two months ago at a Mumbai rally, a fundamentalist Hindu organization announced that they would "make a Gandhi of Dhabolkar," Girme said, "meaning that they would assassinate him."
Girme said religious groups were afraid that Dabholkar and his followers were encroaching on their territory by educating people to give up blind faith, appreciate science and adopt an attitude of reason.
"Faith is the last word of the conperson," Girme said. "They ask you to have faith when they have no other explanation," he added, referring to Indian priests, witch doctors and politicians whom he said prey on people's religious devotion.
Girme told CBC News that in certain Maharashtran villages people have been fooled into seeing witch doctors rather than seeking necessary medical attention, and have even been persuaded to sacrifice children to appease the gods.
Dhabolkar was trying to get people out of that "hellhole," and was attacked because fundamentalists were losing power over people, Girme said.
"If you cant fight thought with thought, reason with reason, then the only weapon that they have is to shoot him," Girme said. "But that will not stop the progress that has been made."
Dhabolkar also ran an addiction treatment centre and worked to improve education among women.
Girme said that there are currently no plans for a memorial, though Dhabolkar's followers have already organized a march in Pune.
"He was a simple man," said Girme, pointing out that Dhabolkar was not one for ceremony.
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