Bengaluru: Aug 31: Researchers and writers from the City gathered at the Town Hall and mourned the death of Kalburgi on Sunday evening.
Veteran writers Girish Karnad, Baraguru Ramachandrappa and K Marulasiddappa were among those present.
Karnad, who knew Kalburgi as a good friend, said that he was an open personality. “He would create controversies many a time. This was enough evidence to show he was fearless,” he said. Karnad said, “It is not part of Kannada culture to kill someone just because he has said something unpleasant or unacceptable to a section of the people.” The incident has instilled fear in the minds of writers and ideologists. Security has been beefed up near their residences.
Marulasiddappa said that a trend was emerging in the State. “Take for instance the incident in Mangaluru. A couple is not allowed to sit and talk together, people from different communities cannot even be friendly. They are attacked if anything of that sort happens. Such is the present situation. We should stand united and express our thoughts without fear,” he said.
Social media is a source of communal disharmony, Marulasiddappa said. “People take to Facebook to express their religious sentiments. The youth get carried away by these and it leads to a lot of disharmony,” he said. Prof B?K?Chandrashekar urged the government to keep tabs on what is being posted about writers on various blogs.
Ramachandrappa said that it was time that writers and ideologists kept aside their individual differences and formed an organisation. “Even if there are reasons other that ideological differences for Kalburgi’s killing, it is not acceptable,” he said.
Leaders shocked
Former prime minister H?D?Deve Gowda and various writers have expressed shock over the murder of Kalburgi.
Gowda who spoke on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Heritage Club at Vijayanagar here said, “It is a shocking incident as law and order have gone for a toss in the State in the last five years. The government should take measures to rectify the same.”
Writer?Devanur Mahadeva described the incident as an attack on cultural tolerance in the society. Such incidents should be stopped. The police should investigate the case with utmost care as negligence may help miscreants evade the law.
Another writer?K?S?Bhagawan termed it as a great loss as the nation had lost a researcher who was leading the society towards truth. The government should take the incident seriously and prevent its recurrence. The miscreants are cowards like Talibanis and should be arrested at the earliest.
Writer and former chairman of the State Folklore Academy Kalegowda Nagawara said, “It is the biggest-ever jolt to freedom of speech and expression in Karnataka. It is a dangerous development for democracy. Kalburgi was a man of simplicity and honesty.?Similar was the treatment meted out to 12th century social reformer?Basavanna who espoused the truth and could not live long due to differences in society.”
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