GAURI, YOU DIED SO WE COULD LIVE FREE
The role of Hindutva extremists from Sanatan Sanstha has been established in the murder of Gauri Lankesh and the same extremists are said to have killed MM Kalburgi too. There is an urgent need to ban this organisation and its activities to prevent any such killings in future. The investigating authorities should keep an eye on the funding and political support for this organisation." . — K. L. Ashok, GENERAL SECRETARY, KOMU SOUHARDA VEDIKE
Raj Bhavan Chalo! On September 5, the Freedom of Expression convention will bring activists, thinkers and intellectuals from across the country to mark the death anniversary of Gauri Lankesh. The brutal killing of the fiery journalist has come to stand for something greater: growing illiberalism and the often violent resistance of cultural diversity. Even Gauri, who spoke unceasingly for the downtrodden, became part of a rightwing- led smear campaign, becoming an icon of sacrilege. With the killers in custody but the mastermind still at large, the rally calls for far- sighted measures, including the banning of Goa- based Sanatan Sanstha as a "terrorist organisation", and the tackling of the larger problem at hand: The rise of an intolerant fringe, the self- appointed custodians of Hindu morality, who stop at nothing to silence those who get in their way. As journalist and author Chidanand Rajghatta says of the killing of his "simple, straight- align journalist," ex- wife, "it was incredibly cowardly".
BLANKET BAN ON SANATAN SANSTHA
With the role of Hindutva being proved in the murder of the senior journalist, the demand to ban the Sanatan Sanstha is gaining momentum among rationalists, writers, filmmakers and journalists associated with the Gauri Lankesh Balaga. A protest march will be held as part of ‘ Gauri Assasin Day’ on Wednesday to Raj Bhavan demanding the government consider the Sanatan Sanstha a terror outfit and ban it. The rally will be inaugurated by Swami Agnivesh, who was attacked twice recently. Eight prominent Kannada writers, including Girish Karnad, whose names were on a hit list discovered by the SIT during its probe, are expected to participate.
The day will conclude with a convention, ‘ Right to Speak’ at the Jnana Jyothi Convention Hall at the Central College, which will be addressed by Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar, MLA Jignesh Mevani, Teesta Setalvad among others.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister, Dr. G Parameshwara has agreed to consider banning the outfit if its role in the outspoken journalist’s murder is proved and Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar too has supported such action against it. “We have demanded this earlier and we are demanding it again. An organisation, which kills and plots to kill people in order to eliminate their ideology, has no right to continue. Many people attached to these organisations have been arrested and we believe that the Goa government should decide on this soon," Mr. Chodankar said.
On this day, exactly a year ago, a voice that vehemently criticised Hindutva ideology and condemned its proposal to form a Hindu Rashtra, was silenced by three bullets that pierced her body on the evening of September 5, 2017, outside her home in RR Nagar.
There was much speculation and many suspects. The Special Investigation Team ( SIT) that looked into the murder of one of the state’s seniormost journalists/ activists, Gauri Lankesh, established a Hindutva link. As many as 12 accused, all associated with one or the other Hindutva outfit, including the man who pulled the trigger on Ms Lankesh, Parashuram Waghmore, were arrested, making it evident that it was a Hindutva ploy executed by a few right wing fundamentalists spearheading a movement to save ‘ Hinduism.’ Although some of the accused have been found to be associated with a radical Hindutva group, Sanatan Sanstha, the organisation has denied any link to them.
It has also been established that Ms Lankesh was not their only target, but also rationalist/ author from Maharashtra, Narendra Dabholkar, Communist leader, Govind Pansare, and Karnataka scholar, M M Kalburgi, who were killed at different times in recent years. And it does not end there. The fanatics were on a spree to eliminate all rationalists and writers, who spoke or wrote against Hindutva and next on their list of targets was Mysuru writer, Prof. KS Bhagwan.
A year after Ms Lankesh’s death, her admirers and haters have come forward to mark her first death anniversary on Wednesday. While the former have planned to concentrate on her idea of what a secular country should be, the latter will protest the arrest of those suspected of involvement in her murder, claiming they are innocent and wrongly accused.