Sanatan Sanstha behind free-thinkers' murders, should be banned: AAP

AAP leader Ashish Khetan on Monday demanded a ban on Hindu right wing group Sanatan Sanstha, alleging that the Goa-headquartered organization's members were involved in the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, M.M Kalburgi and Govind Pansare.

Responding to the allegation, the Sanstha dismissed it as a "political stunt".

Addressing a press conference here, Khetan said: "Unfortunately since the BJP has come to power in 2014, there have been attacks on free thinkers, liberals and secularists... Sanatan Sanstha is a religious organization... it has been targeting people who they label 'dharma-dhrohi (anti-religion). Murders of Dabolkar, Kalburgi and Pansare was the handiwork of Sanatan Sanstha. It should be banned ..."

He also alleged that since its inception, the Sanstha had targeted Hindus as well as Hindu liberals.

"We should all remember that Sanatan Sanstha is an organization which professes to be the upholder of Hindu dharma, but so far since their inception they have only killed Hindus.

They targeted Hindus when they threw bombs in theatres of Maharashtra, they have targeted Hindus in Goa and they have been targeting free thinking Hindu liberals from Maharashtra and Karnataka. It has no place in a country like India," Khetan said.

Reacting to the AAP leader's statement, the Sanstha's trustee Virendra Marathe said it was a mere political stunt.

"Khetan's statement is one of the many political stunts by political parties which oppose Hindutva. For a decade now, the Congress and like-minded parties have failed to ban Sanatan Sanstha, which itself proves the Sanstha's innocence," he said.

--IANS

maya/vd