Murder of journalists must be condemned but not in a pick and choose manner
RK Sinha
No word is strong enough to condemn the killing of Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru the other day. Gauri was not only a crusader journalist but was also an activist writing against establishment. In the process, she was writing against those who talked of Hindutva and Nationalism. It is not a crime to talk and support the cause of Hindus and to hold the nationalism in high esteem. Yet she wrote against them. It was freedom to express her views.
The nation rose to condemn and deplore the cult of violence. On September 6, at the Press Club of India, journalists, social activists and politicians gathered to mourn and condemn the murder of Gauri. CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and D Raja of the CPI also joined the protest at the Press Club of India just because there are allegations that some people affiliated to Hindutva outfit were behind the murder. The other charge is that it is the work of BJP activists.
The sweeping charges are being leveled because Gauri Lankesh was convicted in a defamation case filed by some BJP leaders of the State. She was on bail when the murder took place.
May I ask Yechury and Raja if they are genuinely concerned about the freedom of speech and expression and freedom of the Press in India. Did they even think of going to Bihar and visit the bereaved family of Rajdeo Ranjan, Bureau Chief of Hindi daily Hindustan who was murdered in day light by the shooters of Mohd Shahabuddin, RJD leader and former Member of Parliament now serving jail term for murder? Rajdeo Ranjan was killed in Siwan, the place of Shahabuddin.
But Yechury, Raja and other protesters came out on the streets across the country to condemn and protest against the murder of Gauri because she had glamour quotient tagged to her. Murder is murder, one cannot and should not condemn the crime in selective manner.
The second reason why the Congress and the Left Parties made a whimper of protest against the killing of Rajdeo Ranjan in Bihar was due to the man behind the murder. Shahabaddin is a Muslim. No matter what crime he commits and who is killed at the hands of the likes of Shahabaddin these apologists of secularism would not raise their voice against them because of vote factor.
At a function in Delhi Suresh Soni, highly respected senior leader of the RSS made interesting observations about the country’s intellectuals, if not all a majority of them fail to gravitate around nationalism. Not because these intellectuals are against the nation but because these elements are highly western in their style, approach and thinking. “They are more Euro-Centric than India-Centric”, he said.
That is one reason why one does not see these people holding candle in the march to protest in small cities and towns where there is little scope of hogging the limelight of the media. It is indeed sad and unfortunate that Gauri irrespective of her ideology and belief should have been done to death. The assailants should be booked and given maximum punishment for killing Gauri. There is no place for violence in democracy. But some other questions also arise as to why this selective condemnation of murder and violence in the country. One does not see any public outrage when BJP and RSS workers are killed in Kerala and other places. They are murdered because of their ideology and faith in a particular political philosophy.
Murder of Gauri Lankesh has also proved one thing that the bastion of information technology also known as Silicon Valley Bengaluru is fast running into lawless land like Arizona and Texas where horse riding and trigger happy cowboys ruled the streets in the late 19th Century. Bengaluru and Karnataka as a whole has turned into lawless land under the Congress rule. Gauri Lankesh is not the only person to be murdered there had been several cases of murder and killing in Karnataka under the Congress rule.
(The writer is a Rajya Sabha Member)
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