Sangh Parivar Sena target secular sect
New Delhi, February 18 (Utpal Parashar)

IT IS not Muslims and Christians alone who are the targets of Hindu fundamentalist
ire.

Between 28 August and 13 September last year, followers of Sant Kabir — that
most-secular of savants of the 15th century Bhakti movement — have been
“terrorised by Sangh Parivar-backed cultural terrorists,” a recent petition before the
National Human Rights Commission says.

The alleged atrocities in Akhnoor in the Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir
began during celebrations of Sant Kabir's 600th birth anniversary. Some Shiv Sena
activists led by a local leader Ashok Mishra, the petition by Kabir panthis Shashi
Bhushan (an ex-MP) and Sachidanand Sharma states, tore off a banner carried by
the panthis travelling in a truck on their way back after the celebrations.

The petition names local BJP leaders Atma Ram Sharma and Ram Nath Minas
and some unidentified local VHP leaders and mahants of the Kameshwar Temple
as the people who led the attack.

The banner which sparked the events carried one of Kabir’s famous couplets which
translates as, “a low-caste leather worker who has a guru is better than a high-caste
Brahmin without one.” This “triggered off a campaign against the Kabir
panthis” and in the month that followed, “15 of their ashrams located all over the
state were burnt and damaged by Shiv Sainiks and Sangh Parivar activists”.

The petition submitted to NHRC states that despite lodging 25 FIRs with the police
regarding various incidents of arson and assault, the police remain mute witness to
the continued vandalism.

On September 13, when Swami Madhu Pramhans was addressing a discourse of
more than 20,000 panthis at Akhnoor, he was allegedly taken away by the local
police and detained for several hours.

The petition states, that the same day a mob of 5,000 agitators armed with lathis
and trishuls damaged a Kabir ashram near Akhnoor. The mob also damaged
vehicles and physically manhandled Kabir panthis, the petition alleges. Following
the incident, the local police forced Swami Pramhans to tender an apology for the
“offensive” banner to ease the tension. “But even after the Swamiji's apology the
mob continued to be violent”. In the continuing violence more than 30 persons,
including some panthis and police personnel, were injured, the petition states.
Swami Paramhans’s movements were restricted by the local administration and he
was prohibited from addressing discourses.

On October 3 last year, Swami Paramhans was served with a prohibitory order
issued by the District Magistrate banning his entry into Akhnoor tehsil under
section 144 of the Cr. PC. The prohibitory order was later challenged in the Jammu
and Kashmir High Court. On November 6, the impugned order was quashed by the
High Court. Despite the High Court order, the local police restricted the movements
of Swami Paramhans's.

On December 3, the same order which was quashed by the High Court was
extended for six months by the state government. “Kabir panthis are still living in
terror. Their lives and property are not safe and they can not even hold
congregations in their ashrams,” the petition currently before the NHRC states.