The Fiery And Fanatical Sadhvi

The Fiery And Fanatical Sadhvi RANA AYYUB profiles Sadhvi Pragya, the orator and the ideologue who was initiated into the RSS ethos at a very young age In custody Sadhvi Pragya being presented in a Surat court Photo: INDIAN EXPRESS AFTER A string of multi-city bomb blasts ascribed to the Students’ Islamic Movement of India, the arrest of Sadhvi Purnachetnagiri aka Pragya Singh Thakur has provided yet another lead, though faint, into the country’s right-wing extremist terror modules. Pragya was arrested in Surat by the Mumbai police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on October 10 for her alleged involvement in the September 29 blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. Five people were killed in the blast that happened on the eve of Id; another blast in the Gujarat town of Modasa killed a boy but the Gujarat police have exonerated Pragya and her associates of involvement in the case. Pragya has been a key and apparently popular member of various saffron organisations across the country since the mid-90s, although she entered the limelight only after her arrest. Now in judicial custody till November 17, she has so far provide the ATS little to go on, despite having undergone brain-mapping and polygraph tests. The results of a narcoanalysis test conducted on her recently have not as yet been disclosed. Daughter of long-time Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Chandrapal Singh Thakur, 37-year-old Pragya Thakur is the third of five siblings. Her father, an employee of the Madhya Pradesh agriculture department, introduced his children to rightwing literature early on; Pragya Thakur is said to have been the one most drawn to the RSS ideology. While obtaining a degree in history from Lahar University in MP’s Bhind district, Pragya joined the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the student wing of the BJP, in 1993 and became a state-level secretary, a post she occupied till she left the organisation in 1997. She then affiliated herself with various saffron groups including the Rashtrawadi Sena and the Hindu Jagran Manch. Although Bajrang Dal and VHP leaders were quick to deny any links with her, it is said that she was also a member of the Bajrang Dal’s women’s wing, the Durga Vahini, which has been under the scanner for a while for its activities in Gujarat and MP. She is also a founder member of the Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti, another of the Sangh Parivar’s myriad ‘cultural’ organisations. Best-known for her provocative oratory, she has been described by right-wing leaders and party cadre who spoke to TEHELKA as the only one capable of matching Sadhvi Rithambhara’s mass appeal. Her speeches were mostly about saving Hindutva and fighting Islamic terrorists and, according to a Bajrang Dal leader, caused her audiences goose bumps and brought women to tears when she addressed Durga Vahini meetings. Former ABVP members who remember her from their university days called her an extremely determined woman for whom it was impossible to renege on a decision once made. One ABVP leader she remained in touch with even after leaving the outfit recalls ‘didi’ often chiding him for not being very well versed in scripture. Pragya’s speech-making also brought her in contact with two retired army officers, who are now being interrogated for their role in the blasts. CHANDRAPAL SINGH Thakur, who worships his daughter’s image and has placed a photograph of her along with the images of his deities, says that although his daughter had become a sadhvi and was not in touch with her family, he had immense faith in her and was proud of her. “She has been the most religious member of the family — they have arrested my daughter but can you charge someone just for being religious and because a bike she once owned was used in the blasts?” he asks. Recalling Pragya’s teen years, he says she was different from her siblings and had a passion for bikes. He draws attention to proof of her inborn feistiness: an incident when she beat up Congress workers who misbehaved with her; an argument she had with an IPS officer who later came to ask her father for her hand in marriage. Pragya became a sadhvi at the Allahabad Kumbh in 2007, receiving her diksha from well-known priest Swami Avadheshanand Giri. Since then she has been on tours organised by her own outfit as well as by various other saffron parties in Gujarat and MP. The BJP, which tried to wash its hands of her after her arrest, found itself in an embarrassment when photographs surfaced of her with party president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. It is also a known fact that Thakur campaigned for the BJP in Gujarat last year and shared the platform with Narendra Modi. Pragya’s brother-in-law Bhagwan Jha, who met her briefly after her detention at the Kala Chowkie station in Mumbai, said that ‘didi’ had asked him not to worry about her and had said she would prove her innocence soon. Produced in a Nashik court on November 3, Thakur continued to grandstand, saying she would speak only after she got justice. Meanwhile, saffron organisations are gearing up to provide her what support they can. The VHP, the RSS and other parties of their ilk held an informal meeting recently to chart a way to provide her legal assistance, including paying for her lawyer. A prominent VHP leader said he was disgusted with the political parties who used religious personages to spread the message of Hindutva and then backed out when they were in need. Former BJP leader Uma Bharati has also come out in her defence, calling her arrest “an obvious conspiracy to malign Hindu organisations.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 45, Dated Nov 15, 2008