Abhinav Bharat

Abhinav Bharat is a right wing Hindu extremist organization founded by Retired Major of Indian Army Ramesh Upadhyay and Lt.Col.Prasad Shrikant Purohit in 2006 in Pune, Maharashtra.It has a large base in Madhya Pradesh.The organization is believed to be the revived form the pre-Independence era Abhinav Bharat Society. The activities of the organisations came into sharp focus after Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested its member in relation to Malegaon blast case. It has no relationship to the Mumbai-based charitable trust of the same name.

Abhinav Bharat was named after the Abhinav Bharat Society, an organisation founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1904. The original organization believed in armed revolution, and was responsible for the assassinations of some officers of the ruling British government before being disbanded in 1952.

The current Abhinav Bharat was founded in 2006 by Retired Major of Indian Army Ramesh Upadhyay and Lt.Col.Prasad Shrikant Purohit. The first few meetings of the new group took place in 2007.Himani Savarkar, the niece of Nathuram Godse and the wife of Vinayak Savarkar's nephew, was elected president of the group in 2008. During the first few meetings of the organisation, the members discussed the idea that Hinduism was in danger, and needed to be defended. In 2008, several of its members were arrested on the suspicion of being involved in the 2006 Malegaon bombings, and its official website was closed down.

Sangh Parivar representatives have distanced themselves from Abhinav Bharat (AB). Dr. Praveen Togadia, head of the VHP, fears that Abhinav Bharat is weaning away radicals from the VHP, from where much of the Abhinav Bharat membership originates. Among these included Sameer Kulkarni, the points-man for Abhinav Bharat in Madhya Pradesh, who was expelled from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in June 2008 for not following protocol within the organization. Abhinav Bharat has also been accused of plotting to kill senior RSS leaders including RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat who they thought weren't doing enough for Hindutva.

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