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TOI : PUNE: As the Maharashtra Assembly starts its monsoon session on July 16, the day will also be marked by a state-wide self-slapping protest by the volunteers of Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANS).

According to Narendra Dabholkar, Working President of the ANS which stands for ‘Eradication of Superstition’, the volunteers will take recourse to self torture to focus absence of political will of the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Congress-NCP government to ratify the act banning black magic and similar exploitative practices.

Alleging an unpardonable delay on part of the state government in piloting the bill, Dabholkar told reporters that the minister for Social Justice Chandrakant Handore, who heads a joint committee to examine the bill draft, had not convened its meeting for the last nine months despite the demand by the members.

On top of it, the government did not even try to defend the proposed act against a deceptive propaganda that this law was against the Hindu religion, he regretted.

Denying that the stir was farcical in nature, Dabholkar said, faced with government’s apathy and lethargy we have been left with no other alternative to highlight the issue.

Our target to be achieved in the ten-day-long agitation till July 25 will be 20 lakh slaps, he said adding the ANS activists will undertake the self-slapping sessions at the Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at every district in the state.

The concluding session will be held at the Gandhi statue in Mumbai.

Asked what method will be employed to achieve the target figure, Dabholkar said ANS had worked out the number of slaps one activist would complete in a minute. This will be multiplied taking into account the duration of the agitation and the number of volunteers taking part state-wide. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More