The protest meeting organised to mark the second death anniversary of scholar M.M. Kalburgi here on Wednesday once again raised concerns over threats to free speech while strongly condemning the government’s apathy in bringing to book the culprits.
The protest meeting was titled “Naavu Kelutiddeve… Karana Kodi” (We are asking, give us reasons) and was organised under the aegis of the Dr. Kalburgi Hatya Virodhi Vedike.
All the speakers, including Sri Tontada Siddalinga Swami of Tontadarya Mutt Gadag, senior writers Rajendra Chenni, Ramzan Darga, linguist Ganesh Devy, social activist Dhanaji Gurav, writer Shankar Halagatti, and others questioned the slow investigation into the killing of Kalburgi. Mr. Devy termed the killing of Kalburgi as a “murder of our decency and diversity.”
“Since the last two years, the government has been issuing statements, while we don’t see much action. It is time the government proved its commitment towards solving the case and establishing the motive behind the crime,” he said.
Mr. Devy said the members of the samiti would meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in another four days to exert pressure on him to initiate steps to increase coordination between the State investigating agency and those probing the murders of Pansare and Dabholkar in Maharashtra. “We want the State government to act quickly and crack the case within the next four months, failing which the writers’ community will launch indefinite strike from Dharwad,” he said, adding that Dharwad, which has been an epicentre for several struggles, will once again become a platform for the fight against fascism and terrorism.
Recalling the contribution of Kalburgi, Mr. Chenni said that being a researcher, Kalburgi had written over 4,500 pages on the history, religion, culture, and tradition of Karnataka. If the murderers of Kalburgi are not caught, they would be a threat to human civilisation, he warned.
Alleging that without institutional support, the murderers would not have committed the crime, Mr. Chenni also demanded stringent laws to curb recurrence of such acts.
Sri Siddalinga Swami said it was regretting to note that the Chief Minister had failed to fulfil the assurances he had given. “The announcement on instituting an annual award in memory of Mr. Kalburgi with a purse of ₹5 lakh is yet to materialise. What is even more painful is that the government is not keen on solving the case and revealing the motive behind the murder,” he said.
A host of other speakers, including Srivijaya, son of Kalburgi, Sanjeev Kulkarni spoke on similar lines. Earlier, the participants led by poet Channaveera Kanavi paid tribute to Kalburgi and also launched a signature campaign to put pressure on the government.
