Fissures in Congress over Sanatan Sanstha ban

Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan

While demanding a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha in view of the ongoing arrests of its alleged associates, the rift between senior Congress leaders has once again come to the fore. Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has reiterated that he had sent a proposal to ban the sanstha in 2011, but the then Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said he wasn't aware of any such thing.

It appears like a rerun of a similar clash between the two in June 2016 when, after some sanstha-related people were arrested in the Dabholkar killing, Chavan had asked for the group to be banned. Chavan, in Pune, demanded that the sanstha be banned with immediate effect by considering a pending proposal. According to Chavan, his government had, in 2011, sent a 1,000-page dossier recommending a ban under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, to the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who held the portfolio for 15 months, and then followed it up with Shinde, who had taken over the ministry later.

Affidavit in HC
It is also on record that the government had filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court on June 4, 2013 that Sanatan Sanstha would be banned for 45 days, but the decision could not be implemented because of the 2014 elections.

Responding to Chavan's statement, Shinde told mid-day that he had no connection whatsoever with what the former CM was saying. "He [Chavan] did not tell me even once about the dossier and the Maharashtra government's recommendation," he said, adding that he had been saying the same thing ever since Chavan first made a statement about the issue.

Status quo
Sources in Mantralaya said the Centre had sent some queries regarding the earlier proposal and the state government had already dispatched its response to the Centre.
"These processes go on. Earlier, the government had told the legislative council that it had asked for a status report from the Centre, and in response to that some queries had come to us," said a highly-placed officer in the Home department.

However, the officer said that sending a fresh proposal seeking a ban on the sanstha would take more time and further investigations to establish the sanstha's direct involvement in the killings and other terror activities.

"Also, the sanstha is registered under various names and various places. There is no homogeneity, which makes the task difficult. But, most important is any evidence that can nail most of them in the unlawful activities," he said.

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