Mathura violence: Who are these Netaji-loving 'Satyagrahis'?
A deadly fire-fight over eviction of a 268-acre patch in Mathura has thrown the spotlight on an obscure cult espousing bizarre anti-establishment and economic ideologies.
The members of this cult squatting on government land for the past two years in this temple town call themselves "Satyagrahis" - those who hold onto the truth. And so goes the title of their organisation: the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi.
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They claim to venerate Subhas Chandra Bose. Perched on treetops, they opened fire when police arrived on Thursday to survey the Jawahar Bagh land they had been encroaching upon. They are active on social media, with a Facebook page called Swadhin Bharat National Movement.
Activists of this extremist group advocate the overhaul of the world economy. They appear to appropriate Bose, describing him as the greatest leader of what they call Azaad Hind Nation and Azaad Hind Government.
| These 'Satyagrahis' appear to appropriate Netaji Subhaas Chandra Bose. |
The journey of this cult from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, is loaded with trickery. On April 18, 2014, cult activists marched into this UP town, saying they were on a transit to New Delhi for a demonstration.
They hoodwinked local authorities when they obtained temporary permission to rest up at the town's Jawahar Bagh grounds. They never vacated the estate and instead turned it into virtually a parallel kingdom of their self-proclaimed regime. Aggression became their tactic, attacks on local officials a routine.
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A confused mess of eccentric doctrines and opposition to conventional social, political and economic principles, the Jawahar Bagh brigade was allegedly led by a man called Ram Vriksh Yadav.
But these "Satyagrahis" have a long list of court cases against them, which included assaults, threats, trespass, land grabbing and attempted murders.
In April, the Allahabad High Court ordered them to vacate the land.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)