Opposition attacks saffron camp for Gauri Lankesh shooting

NEW DELHI: The aftermath of the chilling murder of veteran journalist Gauri Lankesh snowballed into a blame game, with the opposition terming it part of “intimidation and intolerance” that is on display since the rise of saffron power and BJP rejecting the charges as baseless and blaming the murder on “poor” law and order under Congress in Karnataka.

Unknown gunmen pumped four bullets into Lankesh, an outspoken critic of the RSS-BJP combo, outside her residence in Bengaluru, sending alarm bells through the journalistic community and civil society.

Groups held vigils and solidarity meetings across the country to protest the murder. But as the anger spilled out, it appeared battle lines were drawn along political camps. Congress led the opposition’s charge to place the murder in the context of intimidation of minorities, lynchings, slapping of sedition charges on Left-oriented students — groups clubbed together as anti-saffron.

The anti-BJP bloc said the rise of “intolerance” has followed the rise of Narendra Modi to power in May 2014. Rahul Gandhi targeted RSS by alleging the organisation seeks to silence the voices which are against it, even training his guns at PM Modi. CPM, CPI and other outfits saw Lankesh’s killing as part of the pattern set by murders of rationalists Kalburgi, Pansare, Dabolkar.

As the day wore on, opposition cited the absence of rage in the BJP camp or government to claim vindication. However,

Union

minister and former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari termed Rahul Gandhi’s allegations linking the murder to BJP “irresponsible, baseless and false”.

He said such allegations were a threat to democracy. “The government, BJP or any of its organisations have no connection with the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh,” Gadkari told reporters.

Union minister Ananth Kumar, who is also an MP from Bengaluru, attacked Siddaramaiah government for “poor” law and order, saying probes into other killings like of Kalburgi had reached nowhere. The BJP demanded a CBI probe into the killing. On the day which roiled politics and civil society alike, what inflamed passions was a flurry of incendiary tweets sadistically celebrating Lankesh’s murder. While most of the tweeters claimed to be “nationalists”, it was reported that one or a couple of twitter handles were being followed by PM Modi. It was late in the evening that Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted, “expressing happiness on the killing of anyone is shameful, regrettable and totally against Indian traditions. Social media is not for that.”

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