Indian utopian sect under scrutiny as religious tolerance debate rages
Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:16pm EDT
PONDA, India | By Rupam Jain Nair and Frank Jack Daniel
The arrest of a member of India's Sanatan Sanstha sect following the murder of a well-known atheist has prompted renewed calls from some politicians to ban the Hindu group, as concerns grow the country's tradition of religious tolerance is being eroded.
Opening the doors of its Goa headquarters to foreign journalists for the first time this month, Sanatan Sanstha told Reuters it had nothing to do with the February murder of Govind Pansare, and its mission was opposed to violence in all forms.
Instead, its members are preparing for the advent of a divine Hindu kingdom in India within eight years.
"The aim is to prepare people for a divine kingdom, or Ram Rajya, by 2023," said Durgesh Shankar Samant, a founding member of the group that believes India's secular democracy has failed. "Right now an awakening is going on."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-india-religion-insight-idUSKCN0SK2MB20151026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatan_Sanstha
http://www.sanatan.org/en/