By Christophe Jaffrelot
Last week, the verdict of the Malegaon terror blast case exonerated the accused of the explosion which killed six people in front of a mosque in the town in September 2008.
The judges have made clear that there is not enough to prove that this blast was part of a conspiracy. This interpretation contradicts the 2011 confession of Swami Aseemanand and the report that had been prepared by Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad who was killed in the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.
This document is particularly interesting for two reasons. First, it provides rich pieces of factual information regarding the actors of the Malegaon plot who belonged to Abhinav Bharat. Second, it presents us with the discourse of the Hindu nationalists when they speak between themselves in camera since the report includes the transcripts of meetings they held in 2007-2008 and that one of the participants recorded. The most relevant excerpts are available at the end of the article.
Abhinav Bharat and the Malegaon plot
Abhinav Bharat was named after the movement V.D. Savarkar started in 1905 in Poona.
Himani Savarkar, 61, the daughter of Gopal Godse (the brother of Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948) and the wife of Savarkar’s nephew, claimed that Abhinav Bharat had been started by Sameer Kulkarni, who asked her to be the chairman of the organisation. At that time, Himani Savarkar was the president of the Hindu Mahasabha, a party V.D. Savarkar directed from 1937 to 1942.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
