Swami Aseemanand, a right-wing activist who was an accused in the Ajmer Dargah, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express bomb blast cases but was acquitted for lack of evidence, will be expanding his activities in Bengal in his role as the chief mentor of Hindu Samhati.
Aseemanand aka Naba Kumar Sarkar, who was born at Kamarpukur in Hooghly district, will mentor the Bengal-based Hindu nationalist organisation that was founded by the late Tapan Ghosh.
“Our organisation was founded by the late Tapan Ghosh. After his demise, we wanted Swamiji to take over our organisation. He has finally decided to do so and from now on, his word will be our command,” said Debtanu Bhattacharya, the chief of the Samhati.
“He has successfully consolidated Hindus and fought back missionary forces in places such as Gujarat’s Dang district. He is the best person to neutralise similar radical activities by minorities in Bengal,” said Bhattacharya, who had fought the 2021 Assembly polls on BJP tickets.
On June 28, Aseemanand reached Calcutta to meet members of the Hindu Samhati. He visited several parts of three southern districts — South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly — over the next few days to meet workers of the Samhati. He had been in the state till July 3, Bhattacharya said.
Aseemanand now resides at his ashram in Dang and was accused of playing a major role in attacks on Christians in south-east Gujarat in 1998. Several churches were allegedly torched and thousands of Christians forced to convert to Hinduism.
He was arrested by the CBI on November 19, 2010, from his ashram in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar for his alleged involvement in three bomb blast cases. However, between 2017 and 2019, he was acquitted of all the cases after investigating agencies failed to prove charges against him.
In 2020, Aseemanand had reportedly spent 47 days in the districts of Purulia and Bankura before he was “forcibly” sent to Ranchi by Bagmundi police.
Asked if the Samhati believed that Bengal’s law enforcers would again restrict Aseemanand’s activities in the state, Bhattacharya said they would approach the court if such a thing happened again.
“Swamiji will be coming to Bengal more often now. He plans to visit the state once in 45 days,” Bhattacharya said. “So far, the police haven’t created any problem. If they do, we shall move court.”
