M.M. Kalburgi fondly remembered in a lecture on freedom of expression

Senior scholar and rationalist M.M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead by unidentified men over a year ago, was fondly remembered by Giraddi Govindaraj, writer and literary critic, at 82nd Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahithya Sammelan in Raichur on Saturday. He firmly held that the scholar was murdered for his firm rational thoughts. In his 45-minute lecture on democracy and freedom of expression, he time and again mentioned Mr. Kalburgi and narrated the events that had possibly led to his assassination.

“You can kill a person, but not his thoughts,” Mr. Govindaraj said. The absurd attributions aired by visual media on Kalburgi’s standpoints on some religious issues too contributed their share to the scholar’s assassination, he added.

“We are in a situation to choose between life and our opinion. There are two types of people. Those that suppress their desire to tell the truth for their lives and those who dare to tell knowing the dire consequences. Kalburgi never hesitated to tell the truth,” he said.

Pointing at 1986 developments surrounding Kalburgi’s writings on 12th century Sharanas, Mr. Govindaraj recalled that some people had threatened that they would not move an inch without beheading Kalburgi.

“Kalburgi’s teacher mediated and settled the issue. Kalburgi was heavily hurt as he was forced to withdraw his views. He had told me that he had intellectually committed suicide. He was neither a left ideology nor right one. He was passionate about Lingayata Dharma and Basava preaching. You could find no photos or statues of any Gods in his home,” he said.

Restricted freedom

Quoting a legal expert, Mr. Govindaraj opined that the freedom of expression was restricted in India. “We have freedom of expressing our own opinions. Our opinion should not hurt religious feelings of others; should not provoke violence; it should not be intended to character assassination. Who will decide what hurts whom?” he questioned.

He expressed concerns over the plight of democracy and freedom of expression by pointing at the fact that many writers and scholars were under police protection in the State. “I don’t agree with whatever K.S. Bhagavan says. But, I uphold his right to express his opinion. He is under police protection for his thoughts. Similar, is the case with Chandrashekhar Patil, Girish Karnad and myself. We have freedom of expression, but we don’t have freedom to move at wish,” he said.