Avinash Patil to take over reins of MANS

The family of anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar,who was murdered in Pune last week,has decided not to be part of the working committee of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS). Anish Patwardhan,his son-in-law,said they would be the “backbone of the movement” and work at ground level to strengthen it.

Patwardhan said Dabholkar’s long time associate Avinash Patil would be the working president of MANS and four senior members,including Milind Deshmukh and Sushila Munde,would be part of the committee. “These activists have been with the movement for the last 20 years and they would be most suitable to lead the movement,” he said,adding that the family would be working to propagate the movement and help in spreading the message of rationalism.

Milind Deshmukh said the next course of action would be decided in a series of meeting scheduled to be held in Satara on Friday and Saturday. “All the work initiated by Dr Dabholkar would be followed and continued till the end,” he said.