Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday ruled out ban on Goa-based rightwing Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha. Responding to queries from some presspersons here about the demand made on Tuesday by ruling BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh that the government must ban the functioning of Sanatan Sanstha, Mr. Parsekar said that merely because of an individual member’s association with something, the government cannot jump to ban an institution.
“Let Maharashtra government take action in this regard and then we will take a call,” said Mr. Parsekar. Following arrest of Samir Gaekwad, a “Sadhak”(seeker) of the Sanatan Sanstha in connection with the murder of veteran communist leader Govind Pansare, the organisation is once again back in the spotlight.
Civil society groups and activists have been demanding that Sanatan be banned.
The organisation is headquartered in Ramnathi-Ponda, around 30 kms from here. Mr. Gaekwad is a member of this organisation and had been a driver with it in the past. Investigating agencies have found his links with Rudra Patil, another seeker of Sanatan who is accused in the 2009 Margao bomb blast case which took place on the eve of Diwali. Two members of Sanatan Sanstha were killed in the blast after a crude bomb they were allegedly carrying in their scooter blew up while they were parking it.
Mr. Wagh, a renowned artiste and celebrated writer and poet said that in a democracy there is no scope for violence. “All those who use bullets to silence the voice of opposition are nothing but terrorists. We cannot afford to have such outfits which spew venom,” he had said on Tuesday.
