Assassins of old were honest, modern ones are cowardly. But the cowards are destroying the Indian dream
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Assassins of old were honest, modern ones are cowardly. But the cowards are destroying the Indian dream

September 12, 2017

By T.J.S. George

In the days of Nathuram Godse, things were straightforward and honest. When he shot Mahatma Gandhi there was no attempt to hide his identity. The courage of his conviction emboldened him to say bluntly, “I did fire the shots… I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me.” His final statement before the court was an eloquent defence of the Hindutva view of history.

Courage of conviction similar to Godse’s was seen again in 1984 when Beant Singh and Satwant Singh shot Indira Gandhi dead. They were her bodyguards, professionally committed to protect her. But their ideological commitment proved stronger. Again, there was no attempt to escape from responsibility. In fact, according to some reports, they shouted Sikh slogans as they fired their weapons. When Rajiv Gandhi was blown up by a bomb in 1991, it was known that the LTTE was behind it; soon after the horror they informally admitted it, too.

Times have changed and ideologically motivated killings are done these days in cowardly fashion. Godse and others were proud of their ideologies and therefore had no problem coming clean on their killings. Today’s ideologues are different. They are ready to use the violence demanded of them, but they lack the conviction to own it up. They kill in clandestine operations, then run away into the safety of darkness. In that darkness, obviously, hide protectors powerful enough to protect them. The protectors also are cowards who hide themselves.

Thus, the killers of Narendra Dabholkar in Pune have remained untraced since the murder in 2013. Three years after the event, CBI arrested ENT doctor Virendrasinh Tawade who is still in jail. But CBI suspects that the killers are Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar. There is no trial yet and no answer to the question: Who killed Dabholkar?

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Govind Pansare was shot in 2015 in Kolhapur and died four days later. Sameer Gaikwad was arrested seven months later. In June this year, he got bail. A Special Investigation Team took into custody Virendrasinh Tawade already in jail in the Dabholkar case. Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar are also wanted in the Pansare murder case. Nearly three years after the event the question remains: Who killed Pansare?

Six months after Pansare was silenced, ideology-driven murderers turned their attention to Karnataka. They killed M.M.Kalburgi in Dharwad. That was on August 30, 2015. To this day neither Karnataka Police nor CBI have been able to make a single arrest. The State’s authorities, evidently more incompetent than their counterparts in Maharashtra, cannot answer the question: Who killed Kalburgi?

Interestingly, though, there are some strange parallelisms among these unsolved murders. All three victims were free thinkers and rationalists, opposed to conventional beliefs including religious. Dabholkar campaigned against superstitions. Pansare, a communist, carried on a war against caste. Kalburgi fought idol worship. On the other side, Tawade and Sameer Gaikwad were members of the Hindu right wing Sanatan Sanstha. Vinay Pawar was a friend of Gaikwad. Add to these interconnections the fact that all three killings were carried out by motorcycle riders. Two motorcyclists shot Dabholkar on a public road, two motorcyclists shot Pansare and his wife in their house, two motorcyclists entered Kalburgi’s house posing as students and shot him.

Two (or three) motorcyclists entered Gauri Lankesh’s compound and shot her. She, too, was a rationalist. She, too, opposed superstitions and conventional religious beliefs. As a journalist, she also had clear political views; she fought the very concept of Hindutva. This and the similarities with the earlier killings of rationalists have spread the impression that Gauri too was felled by Hindutva forces. Trollers strengthened the impression by suggesting that she deserved death for her anti-Hindu views.

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Partisans turned the whole thing into a vicious political war on social media, indicating the depths to which bigotry has dragged the country. What is certain as of now is that India has become a dangerous place for independent thinkers. Even the barbarous practice of lynchings is condoned. Gauri was not as powerful an opinion- maker as Kalburgi or Dabholkar. Even then she would not be allowed to live. Intolerance has reached levels that threaten India’s basic values. The outpouring of protests across the nation, sensational in itself, is reflective of a fear complex that has seized the people. Are we losing the dream? If Gauri’s killers are not punished, there will be more Gauris because assassins will feel safe in our system. Gauri herself will remain an exemplar—a journalist who was killed for her journalism.

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www.tjsgeorge.info

3 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Assassins of old were honest, modern ones are cowardly. But the cowards are destroying the Indian dream”

  1. Murali says:

    Comparing Mahathma Gandhi to Gowri Lankesh must be making Gandhi’s soul turning in the grave! Gandhi must have lied more number if times than Gauri spoke the truth! We never heard of Gandhi insulting anybody or any religion ! Gauri never missed an occasion to do do! Yes, both got the 21 gun solute, one very deserving and the other, thanks yo Congress government and the psedo secular gang! Why can’t we wait girl the investigation!? Or is all these hyenas want to howl and change the course of investigation! Most probably that is what happens in all such cases that the political goal is achieves, nobody cares bout the truth!
    What do you know about GAURI LANKESH?
    Noted journo, Francois Gautier writes….about Gauri Lankesh….. (François Gautier is a French political writer & journalist, based in India, since 1971. He has served as the “South Asian” correspondent for the French-language newspaper Le Figaro.)*
    *A 21 gun salute & a state funeral given to a Maoist radical & intellectual terrorist by a anti Hindu Congress Govt which is doing all in its power to encourage Abrahamic & leftist fascism in Karnataka!*
    *After a trial running to almost 8 years, Gauri Lankesh could not produce a shred of evidence to prove her ‘news’ was authentic. It was ‘The neutral Court’ that found her guilty of willful defamation. She was given a suspended 6 month imprisonment & Rs. 10,000 fine with a provision to appeal to a higher Court!*
    *Condolences on her death, but she was hard core anti India, anti army, anti Hindu & wiling to go to any immoral length to score a ideological point to support breaking India forces. She was given a “state funeral”!*
    *Meanwhile no one sheds one tear for those lay people who lived and died for India. Simple souls who cared only and only for Bharat & its progress. Who merely wanted equal rights for Hindus!*
    *Not even our journalists n own leaders tweet in their favour or even mention them!
    *Lt Col Niranjan Kumar was a native of Bangalore. He did not get a 21 gun salute by the state!*
    *Even Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan was from Bangalore. He did not get a 21 gun salute by the state!*
    I am more than shocked, left aghast at the tragic death of a journalist. But I don’t think an Urban Naxal convicted b

  2. theskywalker says:

    Come on, it is a sacrilege to compare Mahatma Gandhi to a so called traditionalist,-wonder whether she railed against Islamic religious irrational precepts and practices, like polygamy and divorcing a woman in absence of her uttering flimsy words etc.. I guess not. Next, we will see her statue and several scholarships instituted in her name?

  3. Harsha says:

    the author of this article is definetly pointing out on intolerence (SORRY, its ANTI_HINDUISM ) in INDIA.
    Well said Murali Sir. It is these journalist who should speak out the truth , not the false . If they have any moral spirit/ethic, they would not have written like this. This Author doesnt care about the sensitivity of our Hindu religion.
    its a shame that this person is writing a useless article & SOM is publishing this.

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