Dabholkar's daughter to carry on his crusade against superstitions

Two months after rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was gunned down in Pune, his daughter Mukta said she intends to fight superstitious beliefs.

Mukta, along with anti-superstition activist Prashant Potdar, was in the City on Thursday to deliver a talk at Azim Premji University. She spoke about the activities and programmes conducted by Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) started by her father and now led by her.

“Till date, MANS has exposed around 100 people who claim themselves to be godmen and are working hard to eradicate superstitious beliefs in Maharashtra. The movement is strong only in our state and there are no plans to take it to other states. But there is some amount of interest shown by certain rationalists in different parts of the country,” she said.

Mukta said, “There is no rule laid down by MANS to stop following any religion or god, but we are just trying to educate people to stop believing in fake godmen and to turn a blind eye towards superstitious beliefs.”

About the investigation into her father’s death, she said, “The police say it is difficult to narrow down on the suspects as there is no strong evidence. We have met professor U R Ananthamurthy and he has agreed to write a letter to the Maharashtra government seeking quick action in nabbing the killers.

The movement started by my father targeted people with vested interests.

He had received umpteen threats, but had not taken them seriously. But this time, he was shot dead. Life is being a little tough for the family... we are trying to come to terms with his death.”

Potdar demonstrated a few tricks used by godmen who claim to produce gold out of thin air, pierce rods through their tongues, bend spoons by  vision, light lamps with water and so on.
“These tricks used by godmen are believed as miracles by the people. These tricks can be performed with the help of science and usage of hands in a clever way. After certain amount of practice, anyone can perform tricks,” said Potdar.