Andha Shraddha Nirmoolan Samiti -- Eradication of Blind Faith Bill
Andha Shraddha Nirmoolan Samiti
The Government has imposed the "Maharashtra Eradication of blind-faith bill 2005" upon us, the people of Maharashtra without completing the debate on the bill and by getting it approved just on the basis of a majority in the State Assembly.
The Bill is very likely to get approved in the 3rd March -2012 in the Maharashtra State Assembly in the Upper House i.e Vidhan Parishad, after which it will be converted into a law.
"Government feels the need for this law to stop the Superstitious Rituals and Customs If the purpose is valid, then Government should be able to produce relevant statistics of the number of such cases in each year and how the existing laws are not sufficient to provide justice to the exploited in such cases as also the Police and Magistrate demands for the new law. On the other hand, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the Executive President of the Maharashtra Anti-Superstition Committee has been repeatedly saying that they have been following up with the government for the last 14 years for this law. If this is true, then who is really in need of the law, Government or Dr. Narendra Dabholkar ?
If one takes into account the political history of the Congress Party or the Andha hraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (Anti-Superstition Committee) one can easily conclude that their activities are against the well being of most religious groups. The legal experts said that the law was not only against Religious freedom but also against the very fundamentals of Hinduism. Hence a need for creating awareness among the people about this law was felt, and thus came into action, the movements and campaigns against the law!
Generally before any Law on a Social issue gets approved, its proforma is made public by the Government, so that people are aware of its enactment and they can express their opinions. According to the seriousness of an issue, the "Vigilance Officers of Democracy", the Newspapers and various Media, bring about an awareness and debate on the issue. Opinions of Experts and the Common man are evaluated. But, various powerful capitalist, communist and socialist newspapers like Dainik Loksatta, presented a one-sided picture to the public creating an impression that this law is a must and that it is not against Religion or Religiosity. Doordarshan, E-TV, Alpha TV Marathi(now Zee Marathi) and other Television channels, showed only one-sided news
Many political leaders were too busy in party politics to have any time for this Religious Calamity.
His Holiness Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Narendracharyaji Maharaj Sect, His Holiness Shri Asaramji Bapu Sect, The Warkari Sect (Pandharpur), Art of Living and Sanatan Sanstha were some of the few Spiritual Organisations that participated in the campaigns against the law. Other Organisations simply took the stand that such a law just could not be. Some said, "Ministers come for darshan of our Guru, how can the same ministers make such a law?" We may hope that the eyes of these people will have opened by now.
Just like Spiritual Organisations, most of the Celebrities too expressed that such a law can never be enforced. Some of them resorted to the convenient excuse of lack of time. Compared to people of other Religions, this attitude of indifference was seen among some communities.
It would be a hollow expectation to assume this law to be applicable to people of all Religions. Government has already succeeded in acquiring support from the Dalits and Bahujanwadis in favour of this law.
The law created by the AndhaShraddha Nirmoolan Samiti was called the "Maharashtra AndhraShraddha Nirmoolan Adhiniyam 2003". In the new proforma, the word AndhaShraddha which means Blind-Faith was dropped and instead the title has been deceptively reframed as "Eradication of Blackmagic and Evil Customs Law" to pretend that the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti has no connection with the improved proforma. . Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti(ANS) was thus confronted with the challenge of defining what is blind-faith. Government and ANS had to frequently change various clauses within the bill and resort to frail excuses for their mistakes.
Confusion about Clause 2(D) of the bill:
Dr Dabholkar introduced the clause 2 (D) of the bill which defines what is blind-faith. The Definition has such horrendous implications on the society that anybody could be imprisoned even on slight opposition to his Religious Rituals. When some people created awareness in the society against this, lakhs of letters were written to the Chief Minister and the Governor due to which the law met with severe opposition from members of the Ruling Parties as well causing the bill to get dropped Finally the bill was renamed as "Eradication of Evil or Demonic Rituals".
In this list were some clauses which were clearly putting the onus on the Religious follower to prove the righteousness of his rituals on the basis of Science to escape from imprisonment! Scientific discoveries and resulting developments have limitations and are a only recent occurrence whereas Spiritual realisations have been happening since time immemorial to this date. Thus it would have been totally wrong to impose these clauses upon Religion and Religious followers. Due to the opposition to this law, only a limited 12 number of these 27 clauses have now been retained! success of our efforts. Some of these clauses have been mentioned below.
Government Officials if complained with a noble cause would not be punished under any circumstances. Shri Modak of BJP objected to this clause saying that it was not acceptable that the Government should have one law and poor people some other. This clause was dropped.
In the earliest proforma, there was a horrendous clause which stated that any kind of custom, ritual or tradition which would promote, preach, spread or publish Blind Faith. This could be used even against Hindu Rituals like Satyanarayan Pooja, Festivals like Ganeshotsav, Vowed observances like Pongal or Sankashti to be blindfaith causing imprisonment if anyone even slightly complained.
Since the last several hundred years various saints from this very land of Maharashtra have been working to create awareness against Blind Faith among people. For this, Saints have taught people the real path of Bhakti. At Pandharpur and Aalandi every year, people are made aware through medium of Devotional songs and Sermons. This work is constantly going on.
There is absolutely no need for a new law and the only solution to this is educating the masses and teaching them the right Religious observances. Such artificial Laws, which cripple the society with their bondage, can never lead to real progress.
One of the BJP leaders has described the present law to be "a defanged or non-venomous Snake", yet we need to remember that no one keeps even such a snake as a pet. Besides, there is always the threat of re-teething of the snake and its re-poisoning by the prowlers. That is why we need to prepare for the battle ahead. Participate in this Religious work by contributing in the forthcoming legal battle.
