Gauri Lankesh murder: Will India's threatened free thinkers get respite?

A protest in New Delhi after Lankeshs murderCome take a ride on Indias bullet train reads the caption of a photograph that was posted on the evening of September 14 on the Facebook page of Humans of Hindutva The page that parodies the right wing has over 95K likes and has helped Indians in the last five months find humour in a violent environment The said bullet has on it photographs of MM Kalburgi the rationalist who was killed outside his Dharwad residence in August 2015 Narendra Dabholkar killed in Pune in August 2013 Govind Pansare killed in February 2015 in Mumbai Mahatma Gandhi shot dead by Nathuram Godse in November 1949 and Gauri LankeshAlso read Gauri Lankesh Murder Union Home Ministry receives factual report from Karnataka GovtLankesh a Bangalore journalist who edited Lankesh Patrike a Kannada weekly was shot to death by unknown assailants outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on September 5 At the time of her death Gauri was known for being a critic of rightwing Hindu extremismTheater personality Girish Karnad with social activist Medha Patkar at a public rally by the Forum Against the Assassination of Gauri Lankesh at Central College Ground on September 12 in Bangalore Karnad is one of 21 intellectuals in Karnataka who has been provided securityBut the HOH post itself was a surprise After all only on September 9 five days after Lankeshs murder the admin of the page who has remained anonymous announced that it was time to call it quitsHe wrote It was a good run but ultimately I realised that you guys are not worth a bullet in my fg head Some of my favourite writers were as prolificonly they didnt have someone call them a mad every 5 minutes I thank you guys for reading through my random thoughts But now its come to the point where I have to argue with people who I thought were on the same side as me Im tired of explaining the intention behind my words again and again and againAlso read Karnataka announces reward for clues on Gauri Lankesh murderThat was at 741 am At 1058 pm he returned with another snarky post and faux farewell speechActivists at a protest against the government for not stepping up investigation in the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholakar at Azad Maidan in 2013In an exchange with midday over FB messenger the admin says I really did want to quit but came back when I saw the reaction of the right wing who thought I really was scared of the bullet Their sick celebration over my genuine worry made me reconsider He says he receives threats and abuses on a daily basis but cant report it as that would end up revealing his identityIf the Humans of Hindutva admin did reveal his identity hed probably join the long list of thinkers who have been offered police protection by their state governmentsAlso read Gauri Lankesh murder Bengaluru Police investigate people expressing joy over journos deathThe names mentioned on the bullet are only of those who have taken the bullet Many live under the shadow of one every dayMy ideas get more tractionEarly last week the Congressled Karnataka government said it had provided security to 21 intellectuals progressive thinkers and activists who have been given police protection in the wake of Lankeshs killingAmong them is rationalist KS Bhagwan 72 a retired English professor at the University of MysoreRationalist KS Bhagwan with a police officer Bhagwan who has criticised the writings of Adi Shankaracharya in his books was provided security by the Karnataka government after Kalburgi was killed Pic Ajeesh F RawtherBhagwan who has in the past translated the works of Shakespeare into Kannada in 1982 wrote a book titled Shankaracharya and his reactionary philosophy Here he criticized the philosophy of eighth century philosopher and theologian Adi Shankaracharya credited with unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism Bhagwan says that in his tenets Shankaracharya says that Sudras have no right to knowledge or school That they are born to serve Brahmins He also called women sinners With this he has condemned 95 per cent of Indians I wanted to put light on and fight this discrimination Bhagwan saysHe expected criticism After 1200 years someone was questioning the philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya but after Kalburgi was shot dead I began receiving similar threatsAlso read Unesco condemns Indian journalist Gauri Lankeshs murderThe day after Kalburgis murder however Bhagwan says two police officers appointed by the state government landed at his door offering fulltime protection They follow him everywhere Its not a hindrance to his daily life Though I didnt want it I welcome itThe threats have waned but not stopped Sometimes they come via letters at other times via texts on his cell phone They range from you are not the son of your father to you will not breathe tomorrow Complaining about them no longer means running to the police station With the officers around he simply writes a letter detailing the text and the number he has received it from The officers submit it to the local police who then trace the sender and hand them a warningDoesnt his family worry If my wife had got upset I would have been shaken But she tells me that what I do is for the good of the country Let the life go They can kill me not my ideas If anything he says the fundamentalists aiming threats at him only means that more people are reading him and about him His 1982 book is now in its 19th edition and has been translated across several languagesA September 10 post on the Humans of Hindutva page with this picture reads ldquoAnd then I was all like lsquoDonrsquot fall prey to social media propagandarsquo when everyone and their dog knows that we spread propaganda on social media faster than a Chetan Bhagat novel spreads illiteracyrdquo ldquoHa ha next time you should tell them that women should be respected and minorities should have the same rights as HindusSome barks some bitesThe admin of the Humans of Hindutva page says of the threats They are mostly all bark and no bite When I threaten to take action they run away and dont bother me againWhile the threats to him come via social media others get them via snail mail KP Ramanunni 61 is an awardwinning novelist who was under attack for a sixpiece editorial he wrote in July in the Malayalam daily Madhyamam urging Hindus and Muslims to drop their hostilities against each otherRamanunni was raised in Ponnani a village in Malabar Kerala and did his masters in English from Mysore University After taking voluntary retirement from the State Bank of India he now works as the administrator of Thunchan Memorial Research Centre in Tirur His first novel Sufi Paranja Katha about the life of a Hindu girl who marries a Muslim boy won two prestigious awards the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award and the Edassery award And so he finds the security he has had to ask for since the editorial a bit cumbersomeThe first set of criticisms that came his way hurt Even today he believes much of the hatred that comes his way is either from the north because Kerala has a tradition of mutual respect and love between religions he claims or Hindu fundamentalists trying to show Muslims in bad light Some letters come on post cards so that everyone can read them This one however was closedAlso read BlockNarendraModi goes viral scores unfollow PM over tweets about Gauri LankeshThis is the letter that had him complain to the police resulting in fulltime protection The writer preferring to stay anonymous says We have read your article published in Madhyamam daily advising both Hindus and Muslims In that you are pretending to be impartial and trying to lock the two together Hindu religion worships stones cows rats everything Islam worships only the Almighty god and thats the message given by Prophet Mohammed You have tried on many occasion to show that you are on the side of Muslim beliefs But we know that it is only pretense on your part which we are intelligent enough to understand Through those articles you are trying to pass on as being friendly to Muslims Reading between the lines one can understand that you are blaming IslamThe writer then abuses Ramanunni calling him a bd a worm and threatens him with consequences similar to those of TJ Joseph the professor whose right hand was cut off in 2010 after he included a paragraph that allegedly insulted the Prophet in an exam he was giving to BCom students of Newman College Thodupuzha where he taught Malayalam Ramanunni was told to convert to Islam within six monthsNow everywhere Ramanunni goes the police goes too I cant even travel to Trivandrum without informing them in advance Because if I move cities the local police will come and provide me protection so they need notice Its boring sometimes If I attend a programme I have to tell them who is organising it and work according to the Special Branchs methodologyMalayali author KP Ramanunni has faced threat after a series of editorials he wrote for the daily Madhyamam urging Hindus and Muslims to drop hostility against each otherDownward spiral after 2014But not all believe that police protection will help Mumbai journalist Nikhil Wagle is no stranger to threats He has been receiving them since before cell phones existed when hed get calls on his landline in the late hours callers threatening harm to his then infant son Today he treats them as routineThe journalist who has written against major political parties having even faced physical attacks from Shiv Sena members says though he has been offered police protection he has always rejected it They will not be able to save me he addsAlso read Kamal Haasan condemns murder of Gauri Lankesh Silencing voice with gun worst way to win debateHe says that a cop once told him a political party was easier to deal with than the likes of the Sanatan Sanstha the Goabased Hindutva organisation which has been linked to the murders of Kalburgi Pansare and Lankesh Sena is just a political organisation the Sanstha is a cult Wagle says the officer told himA September 2015 article by scrollin reported that the Sanstha has been on Wagles trail since he as then editor of the Marathi channel IBNLokmat anchored a programme on rationalism and the need for an antisuperstition law The Sanstha representative had walked out of the discussionThe report says The next thing Wagle knew his mobile number was being circulated widely he was receiving abusive calls threatened with death and the organisations publication Sanatan Prabhat had published articles denouncing him His photograph was put up with a cross over it just as the organisation had done with photographs of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar and rationalistLeftist Govind PansareSpeaking to midday Wagle says that while he has often received flak from political parties and their supporters for his stories the abuse online has got out of hand since 2014 The atmosphere is much more intolerant nowAlso view Who was Gauri Lankesh 9 facts in pictures