It’s an outfit that calls itself a charitable organization registered in Goa and with offices across Maharashtra. It claims to work for social uplift and national security but it espouses the cause of a Hindu Rashtra and fact is the Sanatan Sanstha has always made headlines for all the wrong reasons. What’s catapulted it back into the news are the recent arrests at least 8 made by the Maharashtra anti terror squad and the CBI. The arrested men are all believed to have links with the Sanatan Sanstha and they’ve been arrested in connection with the murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and that’s not all during raids carried out by the Maharasthra ATS and the CBI. A huge haul of arms and explosives were recovered from some of the arrested men. Agencies believe these were meant to be used to carry out blasts in Maharashtra. Now the chief of the organization Jayant Athavale is likely to be called for questioning the Sanatan Sanstha has a long history of violence according to law enforcement agencies not only have they been linked to the murders of Gauri Lankesh in 2017 and Narendra Dabholkar in 2013. A Sanatan member was also arrested for the 2015 killing of Communist leader Govind Pansare in 2008. The group’s name first surfaced in connection with a blast at a movie hall in Mumbai to protest against the film Jodha Akbar later that year two of its workers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for planting a bomb outside an auditorium in Thane near Mumbai. Why, because they were not happy with the screening of a play which according to them portrayed Hindu gods in poor light in 2009 sanatan activists were found to be involved in a bomb blast in Goa. Today in the wake of all the recent arrests there’s a growing clamour to ban the Sanatan Sanstha but this isn’t the first time when such a demand has been made congress leader and the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had recommended a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha way back in 2011 yet it would seem that politics kept coming in the way of any concrete action being taken against the controversial organization whether it was the congress govt at the centre then or the BJP Govt now nobody has shown any serious intent to deal firmly with this organization leave alone banning it why? Because political parties seem to think any such action may come at an electoral cost the price of being labelled anti-Hindu therefore the question we’re asking on the show tonight is this is it time for all political parties. In this country to stop playing politics over issues of national security and law and order? Has the time come to impose a ban on the Sanatan sanstha and crack down on its members? And has the controversy over the Sanatan sanstha resurrected the debate over what has controversially come to be known as saffron terror?
