By Nihal Parashar:

Like many others, Narendra Dabholkar is dead too. He was a fighter and his fight was not against any particular man, but ideas- ideas which have been the rule for thousands of years. He dreamt of relieving citizens from the superstition which surrounds them. But then he was killed by those who want to save the interests of frauds.

In past 24 hours, much has been written about Dabholkar’s life and his fight against the ideas which cripple the minds of humans. We must also try to see the larger picture and understand what it means to lose even one Dabholkar from the society. It means a lot! The society is a result of few influencers who decide the fate of the larger populace. This gives power to select few, who essentially exploit the minds of many. It is this situation when people like Dabholkar become more important than anybody else. It is their struggle which attempts to fight and eradicate the viruses which have attacked the elastic minds of humans and have made them stiff.

Dabholkar’s murder also shows how afraid the businessmen of religion are; they are very afraid of free thought. A free thought alone has the potential of destabilizing thousands years of belief in superstition. This murder gives another reason to believe that Dabholkar’s struggle was not just a jargon but had serious connotations. This murder also makes us aware that the business of superstition is real, extremely real in fact!

Let us not weaken the momentum Dabholkar’s four decades of fight has created. Let us strengthen the ideas- ideas to free our minds of the vicious circle of superstition which intends solely to subjugate the society. Let us not hero worship any human but talk about the ideas which Dabholkar tried to expose us to. Let us struggle to create a society which is free- free to think.