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Abhinav Bharat is a
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
militant organization founded by retired
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
Major Ramesh Upadhyay in 2006 in
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
, India. It has a large base in
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
. The organization is believed to be the revived form of the pre-Independence era
Abhinav Bharat Society Abhinav Bharat Society (Young India Society) was an Indian Independence secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1904. Initially founded at Nasik as "Mitra Mela" when Vinayak Savarkar was still ...
. The activities of the organisations received widespread attention after Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested its member for the 2006 Malegaon bombings case. It has no relationship to the
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
-based charitable trust of the same name.


History

Abhinav Bharat was named after the
Abhinav Bharat Society Abhinav Bharat Society (Young India Society) was an Indian Independence secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1904. Initially founded at Nasik as "Mitra Mela" when Vinayak Savarkar was still ...
, an organisation founded by
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationali ...
in 1904. The original organization believed in armed revolution, and was responsible for the assassinations of some officers of the ruling British government before being disbanded in 1952. The current Abhinav Bharat was founded in 2006 by Ramesh Upadhyay and lieutenant-colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit. The first few meetings of the new group took place in 2007. Himani Savarkar, the niece of
Nathuram Godse Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a Hindu nationalist from Maharashtra who shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point blank range at a multi-faith prayer meeting in B ...
and the wife of Vinayak Savarkar's nephew, was elected president of the group in 2008. During the first few meetings of the organisation, the members discussed the idea that Hinduism was in danger, and needed to be defended. In 2008, several of its members were arrested on the suspicion of being involved in the 2006 Malegaon bombings, and its official website was closed down.


Relationship with Sangh Parivar groups

Sangh Parivar The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" or the "RSS family") refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindu nationalist organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which r ...
representatives have distanced themselves from Abhinav Bharat (AB).
Praveen Togadia Pravin Togadia (; born 12 December 1956) is an Indian doctor, cancer surgeon and an advocate for Hindu nationalism, coming from the state of Gujarat. He was the former International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a can ...
, the former head of the VHP, fears that Abhinav Bharat is diverting radicals from the VHP, from where much of the Abhinav Bharat membership originates. Abhinav Bharat has also been accused of plotting to kill senior
RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...
leaders, including RSS Chief
Mohan Bhagwat Mohan Bhagwat (, Marathi pronunciation: oːɦən bʱaːɡʋət̪ born 11 September 1950) is an activist currently serving as the 6th and current Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India. He was chosen as the successor to ...
, who the Sangh Parivar thought wan't doing enough for
Hindutva Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
.
The Caravan ''The Caravan'' is an Indian English-language, long-form narrative journalism magazine covering politics and culture. History In 1940, Vishwa Nath launched ''Caravan'' as the first magazine from the Delhi Press; it went on to establish it ...
conducted interviews of Swami Aseemanand to publish an exclusive profile, in which he named Bhagwat in relation to
2007 Samjhauta Express bombings The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Bombs were set off in two carriag ...
, Ajmer Dargah attack and
Mecca Masjid bombing The Mecca Masjid blast occurred on 18 May 2007 inside the Mecca Masjid, (or "Makkah Masjid") a mosque located in the old city area of Hyderabad, capital of the Indian state of Telangana located very close to Charminar. The blast was caused by a ...
. Later, Aseemanand called the magazine article "fabricated" and threatened to launch legal action against the article’s author. However, the Caravan defended its report and released tape recordings and transcripts of the interviews.The
National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...
(NIA), which investigating Aseemanand, said that he never named any RSS leader during questioning. The RSS, too, has denied the allegations.


Allegations of involvement in bombings

Following the arrest and investigation of Abhinav Bharat members Swami Aseemanand, Shrikant Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan, Sunil Joshi, and Rajendra Choudhary in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts, the organization has been investigated for its alleged role in
2007 Samjhauta Express bombings The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Bombs were set off in two carriag ...
, Malegaon blasts,
Mecca Masjid bombing The Mecca Masjid blast occurred on 18 May 2007 inside the Mecca Masjid, (or "Makkah Masjid") a mosque located in the old city area of Hyderabad, capital of the Indian state of Telangana located very close to Charminar. The blast was caused by a ...
, Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast and Jalna mosque bomb attack. In all these bombings 147 people were killed. Anti-Terrorism Squad Investigations have revealed that serving and retired army officers associated with Abhinav Bharat hijacked the organisation and motivated the youth to take up armed struggle against Muslims. Swapan Dasgupta notes that the group seemed little more "than a letterhead or part of a fantasy world". Praveen Mutalik, who was arrested for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, is alleged to have received more than from Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a co-founder of the Abhinav Bharat. Furthermore, the Anti Terrorist Squad has clamied that Ajay Rahirkar, the treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, received from various '' hawaladars''.


References

{{Hindu Nationalism Hindutva Religiously motivated violence in India Hinduism-motivated violence in India Nationalist terrorism Far-right politics in India Militant Hindu groups Racism in India 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings Anti-Islam sentiment in India Persecution by Hindus Hindu terrorism