Sakaal Times
Wednesday, October 08th, 2008

The government had to look for a solution as soon as Warkaris led by Bandatatya Karadkar joined the agitation against the Dow Chemical unit at Shinde-Vasuli, says Shashwat Gupta Ray

When a large number of angry Warkaris led by Bandatatya Karadkar attacked the construction site of Dow Chemical on July 25, Maharashtra was shocked. None could fathom how the otherwise sedate community, whose major activity is singing bhajans in praise of Vithoba, could turn into a violent mob. On August 9, Warkaris announced 'Dow Quit India' movement and on September 17, a furious group, suspected to be Warkaris, burnt down a vehicle belonging to Dow Chemical at Savardari on Chakan-Shinde road. The driver and Sachin Sharma, an engineer, were forced out before the vehicle was set afire.

This forced police to arrest 115 Warkaris, including Bandatatya. The move aggravated the situation. Warkaris held sit-ins and courted arrest. State highways passing through Pune were blocked to for the release of the leader and arrested Warkaris. And they demanded complete closure of Dow's unit.

The government buckled under the pressure. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh ordered one-month suspension of construction work at the Dow site. Karadkar, his associate Sachin Shinde and others were released.

Earlier, the anti-Dow movement was being conducted for 10 months by rights group Lok Shasan Andolan president retired justice B G Kolse Patil, Vilas Sonawane, and Sachin Sonawane of Yuva Bharat. The State government had ignored it until the Warkaris joined the protest in July.

What led the kirtankars to turn into social crusaders? And what was their clout that brought the government to its knees?

"On March 23, Sant Tukaram's death anniversary, five lakh Warkaris arrived at Dehu for the annual wari to Pandharpur. We printed 25,000 booklets recounting the history of Dow Chemical, including in Bhopal where it has acquired Union Carbide, responsible for the death of 23,000. It was neither ready to compensate the survivors nor to clean up the toxic waste from the factory," Kolse Patil says.

River Sudha, a tributary of Indrayani, flows close to the Dow site and joins Indrayani just before Dehu, the village of Sant Tukaram. Lok Shasan Andolan activists approached Warkari leaders and told them that chemical waste from the Dow plant will pollute Sudha and damage Indrayani, which joins river Bhima, on the banks of which Pandharpur is situated. "Pandharpur has been the religious nerve center for Warkaris for 800 years. On Ashadhi Ekadashi, around 15 lakh Warkaris assemble at Pandharpur. They walk from all parts of Maharashtra, and border areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. A polluted Indrayani means a polluted Bhima. So Padharpur's environment will be damaged. That will directly affect the sanctity of the sacred place. Tanpure Maharaj and Ramdas Kekadi realized the potential impact of Dow's facility. They took us to Bandatatya Karadkar, a popular leader among one million Warkaris. He understood the gravity of the situation and joined the movement," Kolse Patil said.

The State has two crore Warkaris and they have a crore followers. That means about 50 per cent of the approximately 6 crore voting population.

"With parliamentary and assembly elections due next year, it was a huge risk for the Congress-NCP alliance to upset such a large vote bank, traditional voter of the ruling alliance, specially the Congress. The government had to bow down. Warkaris may even contest assembly polls and affect the chances of the Congress-NCP and BJP-Shiv Sena alliances," working president of Lok Shasan Andolan says.

Warkaris form a part of the bhakti tradition of Hinduism, particularly in Maharashtra and northern Karnataka. The sect is so called because the followers walk hundreds of miles to the holy town of Pandharpur, every year on the ekadashi (11th day of lunar calendar) in Ashadh. A pilgrimage is also made on Kartiki Ekadashi. The pilgrimage is called wari and the one who performs it is a Warkari. "Warkaris worship Vitthal or Vithoba, the presiding deity of Pandharpur, considered same as Krishna or Vishnu. Thus Warkaris are Vaishnavites. Sants Dnyaneshwar, Namdeo, Tukaram, Chokhamela, Eknath and others spearheaded and nurtured the tradition with their teachings," Sonwane says.

According to Shashi Sonawane of Yuva Bharat, "From inception, Warkaris resisted the monopolising of Sanskrit and Persian by the elite as the languages of knowledge. The resistance took the form of right to express in the people's language. Two sects emerged out of the movement: one founded by Chakradhar Swami was the Mahanubhav sect. The other founded by Sant Dnyaneshwar in the 12th Century was the Warkari sect," Sonawane says.

Sant Dnyaneshwar and his family were ostracised by Brahmins but supported by lower castes. Dnyaneshwar translated and interpreted the Bhagwadgita into Marathi. He also used principles from Upanishads and Sufism. The writings of sants gave rise to a predominantly non-Brahmin Marathi culture, literature and a parallel Marathi tradition.

"When we were told about the dangers posed by Dow's Shinde-Vasuli unit, we felt our origin was under threat. We had to take a proactive stance. The Bhamchandra hillock, where the Dow project was coming up, is the place where Sant Tukaram wrote his famous Gatha. We could not allow such a sacred place to be destroyed," Bandatatya Karadkar says.