This is an archive article published on August 27, 2018
I am on the hit list of people linked to Sanatan Sanstha: Shrimant Kokate
Shrimant Kokate, author, historian and one of the coordinators of the Maratha community’s fight for reservation, says his life is under threat from Sanatan Sanstha, which “is seeking to rewrite the history of the Shivaji era”.
Shrimant Kokate, 45, author, historian and one of the coordinators of the Maratha community’s fight for reservation, says his life is under threat from Sanatan Sanstha, which “is seeking to rewrite the history of the Shivaji era”. In an interview with The Indian Express, Kokate says the organisation wants to “polarise society” and was “defaming Hindu religion”
How did you come to know about the threat to your life?
The ATS had conducted a press conference in Mumbai last week, where it had revealed that three more persons were on the hit list of people linked to Sanatan Sanstha. My name was on top, followed by two other names — Gauri Hiremath and Vijay Sonawane, both of whom are police personnel.
Why are these people targeting you?
Story continues below this ad
Because I have presented the true picture of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj through intensive research. The world knows that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a truly secular person and believed in including people from all communities. He had risen above casteism. Also, I have brought to light that Dadoji Konddev was not his mentor. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a rationalist and had a scientific bent of mind. The Sanatan Sanstha is opposed to this depiction of him. It wants to divide and polarise society, and is therefore after me. They want to project Shivaji in a wrong manner.
Sanatan Sanstha claims to be a spiritual organisation that spreads Hindu philosophy and principles.
How can we call an organisation a spiritual one if its members are linked to the murders of people who oppose their irrational beliefs? In fact, by adopting violent means and a philosophy of hate, Sanatan Sanstha is defaming and causing harm to Hindu religion that believes in secular values, peace and tolerance. It has no idea what Hinduism is all about.
But neither the BJP nor the Congress government has imposed a ban on Sanatan.
Story continues below this ad
Both the previous Congress-led and the current BJP-led governments at the Centre are responsible for the deaths of four rationalists. If the UPA government had acted on the 1,000-page dossier sent by the Congress-led state government of Prithviraj Chavan, the murder of Dabholkar would not have taken place. Similarly, if the current BJP government had banned Sanatan Sanstha, three more rationalists would not have been killed. Sanatan Sanstha should be banned immediately, otherwise more innocent lives will be lost.
Have you been provided police security?
I had received a parcel bomb and have also been attacked a couple of times for my views on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. After that, I have been provided a single constable for security. But following the new revelation, I am seeking enhanced security.
Sambhaji Brigade and Maratha Seva Sangh say they will give a befitting response.
Our response will be through democratic and constitutional methods. We will fight against those who are seeking to mutilate the original history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, mislead ‘bahujan samaj’ and polarise society. We believe in bringing people together.
Sanatan Sanstha’s reaction
Story continues below this ad
Following Kokate’s allegations, Sanatan Sanstha spokesperson, Chetan Rajhans, said Kokate was trying to garner publicity. “We are a spiritual organisation. We have no connection with those people who have been arrested recently. The allegation about Sanatan Sanstha having a hit list is false and baseless,” he added.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
4 min read
Shrimant Kokate
