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Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah has promised on Wednesday at a media conference in Bengaluru that a Special Investigation Team will be formed under the leadership of an Inspector General to probe into the murder of senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh.It is a crime against democracy and it has to be condemned by all the right thinking persons. The silence on the part of some sections, right from the killing of Dabholkar, is truly frightening. If one takes in to account the fact that all the four intellectuals who were murdered were left-leaning, rationalist and secular activists, the it can be imagined where the needle of suspicion stops.
Siddaramaiah’s promise is unlikely to reassure the shocked nation for the simple reason that his government did precious little in tracing the killers of three intellectuals, activists and rationalists since 2013. Karnataka’s Congress government and Maharashtra’s BJP dispensation were unable to take the investigations to their logical conclusions. Siddaramaiah’s claim that the law and order situation in Karnataka is good does not stand scrutiny.
Of late, Bengaluru, which otherwise has a good name for its cosmopolitan culture, has become a notorious crime center. With elections due early next year, it is all the more important for the Congress government to set its house in order and goad the police personnel to carry on with the investigation faster and show tangible results. The CM would do well to concede the demand made by Gauri’s brother to hand over the investigation to the CBI.
The gruesome murder has provoked large scale protests in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked the State government to send a report on the incident. AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi spoke to the chief minister asking him to nab the killers. The basic responsibility lies with the State government which earlier said it would appoint three teams to conduct probe into the ghastly murder. The CCTV footage has to be studied and the persons who perpetrated the heinous crime should be arrested wherever they are.
It is a crime against democracy and it has to be condemned by all the right thinking persons. The silence on the part of some sections, right from the killing of Dabholkar, is truly frightening. If one takes in to account the fact that all the four intellectuals who were murdered were left-leaning, rationalist and secular activists, the it can be imagined where the needle of suspicion stops.
The method in the madness is too striking to be ignored. In all the four murders the assailants came on motor bikes and they were two, three or four in groups and fired multiple rounds from almost pointblank range. Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy also expressed the same opinion that a pattern is discernible in all the cases.
Narender Dabholkar, editor of Sadhana magazine, was shot dead on 20 August 2013. Two persons who came on a bike fired four rounds on Dabholkar. Next to be murdered was Govind Pansare, a rationalist and a close associate of Dabholkar. Pansare had brought about a lot of pressure on the government to speed up the investigation and arrest Dabholkar’s killers. Both Dabholkar and Pansare were critics of right wing politics. Pansare wrote a book in Marathi on the 17th century ruler Chhatapati Shivaji titled, “Who Was Shivaji?” in which he tried to prove that Shivaji was a staunch secularist. He was killed in Kolhapur on 20 February 2015 by bike riders. His endeavor was responsible for the passage of Anti-Superstitions Bill in 2015. He was president of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Malleshappa Mudivalappa Kalburgi, a rationalist and former vice-chancellor of Hampi University was murdered on 30 August 2015 at Dharwad, again, by persons who came on motor bike. He was also a renowned Kannada writer. He published a book, “The Republic of Reason: Words They Could Not Kill”.
Now, the fourth one to be killed in the same pattern was Gauri Lankesh, a fighter for the same values the earlier martyrs. This madness has to be immediately stopped if we were to survive as a democratic, secular and liberal nation.
Bombay High Court had observed that the murders of Dabholkar and Pansare were similar and well-planned. “Reports reveal that these are not isolated incidents. Certain organizations must be backing them with money and other support,” commented the court.
