This Sadhvi's connections cuts across party lines in MP | N.D.Sharma

Published on 29-10-2008 In General

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This Sadhvi's connections cuts across party lines in MP

Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who is perhaps the most verbose chief minister in the country at present, has become suddenly tongue-tied. It is not because of the belatedly acquired wisdom about the futility of verbosity or a fear of breaching the Election Commission-enforced model code of conduct which he had in the past been doing with finesse and using it to his political advantage. The cause of his reticence is a Sadhvi who has long been associated with him and various organisations of the Sangh Parivar and is now in the custody of the Maharashtra police for her alleged role in the Malegaon (Maharashtra) and Modasa (Gujarat) bomb blasts.

Not only Chauhan, but other BJP leaders also look as if they have seen a ghost following the arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police. The lithe, tall woman, now in her mid-thirties, has been endowed with a fighting spirit and an acid tongue from childhood. She held important positions in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, and was active in Durga Vahini, the women's militant organisation formed in 1991 by VHP leader Sadhvi Ritambhara whose speeches evince an inveterate hatred for the Muslims and the Christians.

Chauhan and his party colleagues first tried to distance themselves from Pragya Singh Thakur, some even denying her association with the Sangh Parivar. Soon, however, not only the details of her association with the ABVP and Durga Vahini were out, these having been confirmed by her own father and some former ABVP office-bearers, but her photographs with, among others, chief minister Chauhan and BJP national president Rajnath Singh were also in circulation.

Pragya was picked up by the Maharashtra ATS, along with several other persons, all related to the Parivar family in one way or the other. Perhaps the most damaging to the image of the RSS is the arrest of hard-core RSS activist Sameer Kulkarni who has been a well-known figure in the Hindutva circles of Bhopal.

The BJP in Madhya Pradesh had not been able to recover from the shock of Uma Bharati's re-emergence from semi-oblivion to launch a vigorous election campaign against the ruling party when the arrest of the Parivar "members" for their alleged terrorist acts hit it like a bolt from the blue. Its clumsy attempts at damage control have only made its position more vulnerable. Senior officials of the Madhya Pradesh police, Director General S.K.Raut included tried to come to the aid of their political masters but only to invite ridicule for themselves.

The Madhya Pradesh police was not taken into confidence by the Maharashtra ATS while raiding places in the State or making arrests. The Madhya Pradesh police did not even know when the ATS team was coming. Its officials, however, tried in vain to impress upon the media that nothing had been established between the BJP and those arrested by the ATS. To take the matter to the height of absurdity, a senior police official "raided" the house in Jabalpur where Pragya Singh Thakur had lived for a while some time back and announced to the media immediately thereafter that nothing incriminating against her had been found at the place.

What has plunged the BJP into a deep crisis on the eve of the polling for the next Assembly has become yet another potential weapon in the hands of Uma Bharati who has made a vow to defeat the BJP in the State.

She expressed her "shock" that the BJP leaders disowned her (Pragya Singh) now while they had been "using" her when they were in need of it. Uma even appealed to the conscience of BJP president Rajnath Singh to show moral courage and acknowledge Pragya Singh's association with the Sangh Parivar. Uma said she would defend Pragya Singh "if she is innocent".

The alleged involvement of the Sangh Parivar in the terrorist activities is likely to hit the BJP hard in the forthcoming elections. Its failure to categorically condemn terrorism even if its own people are involved is bound to further antagonise the liberal vote. Its attempts at denying any association with Pragya Singh Thakur is expected to alienate the hard-core Hindus who may turn with less hesitation towards Uma Bharati now.

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh, at least a section of it, may also not escape part of the fallout of Pragya Singh Thakur's alleged involvement in bomb blasts and killings at Malegaon and Modasa. She was a favourite disciple of Swami Avadheshanand, a Godman who has Union HRD minister Arjun Singh's family among his most ardent devotees and maintains a fine balance in his relationship between RSS supremo K.S.Sudarshan and supposedly RSS-hater Arjun Singh. (Is that the reason that the Congress in Madhya Pradesh was too slow and too vague in reacting to the arrests of Pragya Singh Thakur and others for alleged terrorist killings?)

However, as the name of Swami Avadheshanand cropped up in connection with Pragya Singh Thakur, chairman of Madhya Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee and Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh (Rahul Bhaiya) denied that she had anything to do with Swami Avadheshanand. She might have been among many people who went to Swami Avadhehanandji Maharaj for seeking blessings and that did not make her a disciple of the Swami Avadheshanand, he argued. The denial came a bit too quick.

While Uma Bharati and others have identified Pragya Singh Thakur as a disciple of Swami Avadheshanand and pointed out that the Swami had sent her and other Sadhvis to participate in the yagya organised by then education minister Laxman Singh Goud early this year in Indore, a photograph now in circulation shows both Swami Avadheshanand and Pragya Singh Thakur offering "ahutis' in the yagya. (Goud, who was a virulently militant face of the BJP, died a few months ago in a mysterious road accident).

However, the clincher about Pragya Singh's close association with Swami Avadheshanand came directly from her father Chandrapal Thakur. He is reported to have told the media that his daughter had become a Sadhvi and got the name of Purnachetananand Giri after taking "diksha" from Swami Avadhehanandji Maharaj during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad over two years ago. Surely, a high-profile guru does not offer "diksha" to a casual visitor.

One may hear more about Godmen and Godwomen when the election campaign picks up – but it will not be the BJP and the Congress to "invoke" their blessings.

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