Sadhvi Rithambara
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Sadhvi Rithambara is a strong proponent of the Hindutva movement, known for hate speeches, was closely associated with the Babri Masjid demolition in the 1990s. Photo | Facebook

Who is Padma awardee Sadhvi Ritambhara, who rose to fame with hate speeches?

Sadhvi Ritambhara was listed by Liberhan Commission as one of the 68 people individually culpable of taking India ‘to the brink of communal discord’


The controversial Sadhvi Ritambhara was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, on Sunday (January 26). She was given the award for her social service work.

A strong proponent of the Hindutva movement and closely associated with the Ram Mandir movement in the 1990s, Ritambhara was listed by the Liberhan Commission as one of 68 people who were individually culpable of taking the country “to the brink of communal discord”.

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The Liberhan Commission had been formed to investigate the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and submitted its report in June 2009.

Ritambhara was charged by the CBI along with 32 others such as LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh, and Uma Bharti in the Babri Masjid case. She was eventually acquitted along with all the other accused in September 2020.

Her origins

She was born in 1964 in Mandi Doraha, a small village in Punjab’s Ludhiana district. Her parents named her Nisha. After her college studies, she took sanyas and began participating in VHP’s programmes. She became a prominent face of Hindutva in the 1980s and 1990s.

She stays in Vrindavan, where she runs an NGO called Vatsalya Gram Sanstha that works for poor children, young girls, and elderly women.

Booked for provocative speeches

Ritambhara was only 25 when she was booked by the Delhi Police in January 1991 for provocative speeches on the Babri Masjid under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code.

That was also the year she founded the Durga Vahini, whose mission was the “protection of Rashtra-Dharma and Sanskriti through a renaissance in the Hindu society with Service, Security, and Sankaras as its motto”.

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On December 6, 1992, when kar sevaks demolished the Babri Masjid, Ritambhara was at the “Ram Chabutra”.

Tirade against Christians

In 1995, Ritambhara led a tirade against Christians after a nun named Rani Maria was dragged out of a bus in broad daylight and stabbed to death in Udayanagar, a small town in Madhya Pradesh.

Three months after the nun’s murder, allegedly by a BJP-VHP activist, Ritambhara warned Christians, “If a single choti or janeu is cut, Christians will be wiped out from the face of India.”

Odisha Assembly vandalised

In March 2002, sporting saffron headbands and brandishing tridents, activists of the Durga Vahini vandalised the Odisha Assembly along with the VHP and Bajrang Dal. They were protesting against MLAs who had criticised their activists.

Six Durga Vahini members were arrested in Gwalior for blackening the face of Neetu Sapra, director of the play Kal Aaj Aur Kal, for depicting Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman in an “indecent” manner.

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In February 2016, speaking during a religious conclave, when the movement to allow women to enter the Shani temple in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra was in full swing, she said, “Every religious place has its own traditions and there is always a scope to rethink these traditions. Similarly, it is also necessary that we don't become adamant. This issue is not a very big one.”

On January 22, 2024, when the Ram Temple, which was built over the demolished Babri Masjid, was consecrated, media reports said Ritambhara and Uma Bharti, another sadhvi who played a crucial role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, were in tears.

Different perspective

In an interview in January 2024, she was asked about the Ram Mandir giving rise to communal differences. Did she think they had healed?

She replied, “The movement was one of social integration and religious uplift. It connected the Hindus of the world in a single thread; it did not give rise to any differences. It brought Hindus of all corners together in a beautiful bouquet.”

‘Out of control’ girls: Ritambhara

Today, Ritambhara is the head of the Samvid Gurukulam Girls Sainik School, one of around 25 of 40 Sainik Schools that are run by people or organisations linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindutva organisations, and other Hindu religious organisations.

In a video uploaded on the school’s Facebook page, she can be heard talking about “out of control” girls to the students.

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“What do we find in colleges? Girls smoking cigarettes at midnight. In these hubs of education, women are breaking liquor bottles, and spreading indecency with their boyfriends on motorcycle. We had never thought that the daughters of India would be so out of control. They are posting abusive reels on social media. They are doing nude photoshoots. They are showing off their bodies in undergarments. It seems that these women are mentally sick. These girls don’t have sanskar,” Ritambhara said.

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