Maharashtra | Aum certificate ringing the division bell

A right-wing Hindu group has started a purification movement in Maharashtra by issuing purity certificates to establishments selling religious goods

ISSUE DATE: Oct 14, 2024

Displayed promine­n­tly at the nearly century-old Raj­kamal Prasad Bhandar outside the Trimbakeshwar Shiva temple in Maharashtra’s Nashik district are not sweets, vermillion, rudraksha beads or idols, but a nondescript ‘certificate’ sta­m­ped with ‘Om’ and ‘Hindu to Hindu’ written in Hindi, Marathi and English. Issued by Aum Pratisthan, a ‘not-for-profit company’ headed by Ranjit Savarkar, a grand-nephew of V.D. Savarkar, the ‘Aum Standards Certificate’ has a QR code with details of the shop and the owner. Since June, the Pratisthan has issued such certificates free of cost to around 150 puja material vendors and restaurants in Trimbakeshwar, which sees up to 12,000 pilgrims daily and lakhs on auspicious occasions. Establishments in other places, like the 150-year-old Pande Mithai shop and restaurants in Nashik city, around 30 km away, and some 25 restaurants in Mumbai, have got Aum certificates too.

The Aum certificate, the Pratisthan says, is the equivalent of the ‘halal certificate’, issued to certify that a food product conforms to Islamic beliefs. The ostensible reason behind the Aum certificate is the longstanding suspicion—even conviction—among Hindu groups that religious material sold by Muslims at popular Hindu temples and pilgrimage sites is adulterated, even deliberately defiled. Proponents of the campaign term it ‘thook jehad’. Pointing to posts and videos on social media, they use the pejorative term to insinuate that Muslims “pollute” food and goods that they sell to non-Muslims with spit. “Naivedya (offerings to a deity) is a matter of faith... flowers are contaminated with spit and sold,” Savarkar alleges. At Amravati, he alleges, khoya was being adulterated with animal fat, and ghee mixed with animal fat was used for sacrificial fires.

To prevent this, Aum Sanghas, or local committees of activists and representatives of shopkeepers, will be set up to grant certificates after verifying that ‘impure’ elements are not being used in making prasad. The antecedents and supply chain up to the level of the wholesaler will be investigated. Those flouting norms will have their certification cancelled.

The campaign, lau­n­ched from Trimbakeshwar, will eventually be ext­­ended across the state and the country, says Savarkar. “First, we will certify products related to religious activities, then expand it to other sectors,” adds Nashik-based Mahant Aniketshastri Deshpande, the Pratisthan’s religious adv­i­sor. Ultimately, the plan is to include manufacturing units, shops selling clothes/ ornaments for deities, priests who use items with the certification, agencies conducting religious tours, and even meat shops selling ‘jhatka’—and not halal—meat.

The norms of purity for prasad will be laid down by religious leaders. Deshpande says they will con­sider “around 100 to 150 standards”, including sellers being practising Hindus, adulteration-free products and their not being made on “inauspicious” occasions like Rahu Kaal and Amavasya.

Secular activists like those from the anti-superstition group Maharashtra Andhashradda Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), launched by the slain rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, see the whole affair as an economic apartheid against Muslims. Savarkar is unabashed about his intent. Pointing out how there are no Hindu-owned shops outside masjids, he says: “This (selling of puja material) is considered kufr (lack of faith) in their religion.” Endorsing his viewpoint is Sunil Ghanwat, coordinator of the Maharashtra Mandir Mahasangh. “This is a prasad shuddhi chalwal (a movement for the purity of prasad) to ensure that vidharmis (non-Hindus) do not sell adulterated prasad near temples,” he says.

“The Aum certificate is being issued to further widen the social cleavage,” says Sadruddin Kokni, president of the Trimbakeshwar Muslim Samaj. “Muslim communities like the Attars and Maniars have traditionally sold puja material to Hindu devotees.”

Others ask how the Pratisthan has taken it upon itself to test prasad, as that is the responsibility of the state food and drug administration (FDA). Dharmaraobaba Atram, FDA minister, has said that only they have the authority to collect food samples for checking. “If this religious purity logic is to be accepted, then its proponents must check in whose farms the lentils and raisins used in the prasad are grown,” says Purushottam Kadlag, a temple tru­stee and working president of the NCP’s (Sharadchandra Pawar) youth wing.

On his part, Savarkar says they are not testing any samples. “The FDA will test standards while we will verify religious purity by checking who made and sold the sweets used as offerings,” he says. And there is no mistaking who will fail this test of religious purity.