Rationalist Narendra Nayak, who recently claimed to have received a threat to his life from right-wing groups, has accused the State government in Maharashtra and the BJP-led Union government of supporting the killers of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
Mr. Nayak, president of the Federation of Rationalists’ Association of India, was here on Tuesday to present the awards instituted by a trust named after the late rationalist Abraham T. Kovoor.
He alleged that the Goa-based right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha was involved in the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. In the first three cases, the killers could not be nabbed because they had the support of those in power in Maharashtra and at the Centre. However, the Karnataka government had taken seriously the investigation into the Gauri murder case. They set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the case and it turned out that the same people were involved in all the cases, he said.
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Mr. Nayak said that the Sanstha had also planned to kill playwright Girish Karnad, academic K.S. Bhagavan, and Veerabhadra Channamalla Swami, seer of the Nidumamidi Mutt. “They wanted to kill us four in a single day. They want to kill rationalists because we have succeeded in shaking their foundations. People are listening to what we are saying about them,” he said. Mr. Nayak alleged that the right-wing groups were also trying to intimidate and scare those who oppose them. “The police, however, were able to arrest my ‘killer’,” he said, adding that he was now travelling with police protection. Recalling the efforts taken by Kovoor to attract youngsters to rationalism, Mr. Nayak said that the movement seemed to have lost its steam as very few youths were now coming to the movement.
Delivering the memorial lecture, academic M.N. Karassery said that lack of reasoning had turned out to be one of the challenges being faced by democracy in Kerala. “It was evident during the recent floods, when people came up with all sorts of illogical theories as the reason for the ecological disaster. For some, it was the plaint filed in the Supreme Court in support of women’s entry into Sabarimala temple. Others found fault with the attempt to arrest a bishop, who has been accused of raping a nun,” he said.