Sahitya Akademi award winner Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi, was shot dead by religious fundamentalists on the allegation that he made offensive and fallacious statements against a Hindutva group. The suspects are not yet arrested and the investigation continues.
M. Kalburgi was one of the major scholars who spoke fearlessly regarding his convictions. Coming from a middle class family, Kalburgi passed his post-graduate degree in Kannada literature with a gold medal. He did his PhD in Kannada on ancient Kannada literature. His works in Kannada literature, Vachana Sahitya and religious history were path breaking and significant. He was the Chairperson and Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University, Hampi.
This is not the first time for Kalburgi to face opposition from religious bigheads. Back in 1989, his work Marga made claims based on historical reference he conducted on Basava, a 12th century saint and founder of Veerashaivism. But it created a hullabaloo among the Lingayat community and he was forced to recant his claims. He said that he did it to save his family but it was an intellectual suicide. In 2014, he was victimised by Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad for citing U R Ananthamurthy’s controversial book Bethale Puje Yake Kudaduin a religious seminar on Anti Superstition Bill in Bengaluru.
And thus M. M. Kalburgi gets added to the club of offending scholars who were disgraced, stoned or killed. Eight months back, one of the finest Tamil writers of the decade, Perumal Murugan declared that his literary career came to an end because his family was living under death threats since he wrote a book which offended a particular caste group. Another reason why he became a scapegoat was that he and his wife belonged to a lower caste. U R Ananthamurthy, M F Hussain, Kamala Suraiyya… the list goes on. These are the names of celebrated artists, and we can be sure that there are many more suppressed voices and stifled tongues.
Book burnings have become a not so sensational issue. Indian constitution guarantees freedom of expression and says that India is a secular country. But looks like there are a few hidden terms and conditions in the constitution. Secular is no more ‘no official religion’ but ‘catering to all religions and fanatics because they are an easy vote bank’. Freedom to express exists but our state cannot guarantee our security if one dares to make such audacious statements. Until recently even our laws did not permit any sort of criticism by enforcing the 66A amendment which was fortunately repealed.
To kill a 76 year old man because he insulted a saint who lived in 12th century – this shows how fragile the common man in India has become. Indians are not people with low tolerance. Our government offices are an example for that. But why can’t we accept stand-up comedians, actors, writers, philosophers who urge us to change perspectives. It shows a lack of spirituality which religions claim to instil in minds and how religious sentiments are manipulated into a political weapon. It is also a sign of false security one can have while being involved in religious politics because the police would not dare to interfere.
How much more can this be tolerated? How different are we from Pakistan or Bangladesh or Iran who at least have the decency to openly issue a fatwa on the ‘offending’ writers?
