The mindset which killed Gandhi is responsible for Lankesh’s murder: Uday Prakash

Do you draw any parallels between the killing of MM Kalburgi and that of Gauri Lankesh?

Kalburgi was a well-known, Sahitya Akademi award-winning scholar of Vachana Sahitya. The tradition of Vachana Sahitya goes back to 11th century and that marked the beginning of oppressed (Dalit) literature in Kannada. Assertions of the downtrodden were first reflected in Vachana Sahitya. It preaches rationality, purity and oneness.

It was not political, but because it evoked notions of oneness and purity of the consciousness, it naturally came in conflict with the castiest-Brahmanical forces. Kalburgi was the modern avatar of Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who is regarded as the first poet of this tradition. Kalburgi wrote more than 50 books on Vachana Sahitya. All his writings were against oppressive, fanatic and divisionist forces. He stood in favour of humanity; the greater cause. And that is why he was killed.

The same thing has happened with Gauri Lankesh. So, the message is clear and loud. Whoever will speak in favour of oneness, rationality, against caste system and fanatic Brahmanical fanatic forces, would be silenced like her.

She was not only a professional journalist but a fighter, a dreamer. She belonged to the tradition of Vachana Sahitya. She talked about oneness in her editorials and reports. Oneness is equality. She dreamt of a society where there is no difference between two human beings. But her views antagonised those who believe in divisions. That is why she was killed. Bike-borne assailants came and shot her at point blank like they did with Kalburgi.

So, the culture of hatred is responsible for her killing?

Of course. We will have to understand that culture is something deeper than politics; it has a lasting impact on society. Over the last few years, the kind of culture that has evolved is intimidating. I would like to quote Salman Rushdie here. In a recent interview, he said that today’s America is not the same America which he used to love – diverse and open America. After Trump, according to Rushdie, America has changed for ever. The same tragedy has happened with India. India is not the same India. So, the culture of hatred, lynching and communal divide which has evolved over the years is directly responsible for the murder of Gauri Lankesh.

You can draw parallels between Lankesh’s killing and Gandhi’s killing. Fanatic Hindus could not tolerate both. The mindset which killed Gandhi has killed her as well.

Do you think that writers/journalists are easy targets?

Yes, not only in India but everywhere. Writers or journalists have been easy targets because they function in isolation. They are unorganised. Go through the pages of world history. You will find numerous examples.

Hundreds of the writers were exiled from the Soviet Union. Novelists such as Mark Aldanov, Gaito Gazdanov, Vladimir Nabokov and Nobel Prize-winning short story writer Ivan Bunin were sent to exile.

Hitler burnt books, killed hundreds of writers. What happened with Tamil writer Perumal Murugan? He had to go to court. Imagine, the kind of agony Murugan might have gone through. In a democratic-secular country like ours, a writer cannot write what he wants to write.

If you take my example, I have also adopted the strategy of silence. Being a writer, I feel lonely.

I came to know that a friend of Lankesh’s had suggested to her last week that she should think before writing a post or commenting on social media but she did not care. She said those were her honest responses, so shemust express them. She believed that a journalist-writer should say what he or she felt. Sadly, her fearlessness took her life. In a democratic country, voices of dissent are heard but our democracy is fast turning into an autocratic-theocratic state.

What can a writer-journalist do in such an atmosphere of hatred and communal and caste divide?

I was returning from BTR Bhawan when I got the news of her killing. It was a big gathering of intellectuals, members of civil society after ‘Not In my Name’ in Delhi. People from all walks of life – liberals, leftists, secularists, trade unionists and student organisations came to participate. All gathered to chalk out a strategy to fight communalism/fascism.

I would like to share with you one thing which I said there. Combating communalism or fascism cannot only be confined to politics as it has deep socio-cultural roots. And I want to say very frankly that the language we used to fight communalism and fascism has been exhausted. It has lost its meaning. To repeat the same slogans again and again is not going to work.

So, we need to create a new language, new slogans. We are living in a time when all good words/slogans/utopian phrases have been used by divisive forces. Our Prime Minister said in China that Panchsheel will be the guiding doctrine for Indo-China relations. Who coined the phrase Panchsheel? Who formulated the principles of co-existence? It was Nehru only.

We will have to defend our language first and then culture. Politics comes later. If you cannot defend your language and culture, how would you protect politics? We do not need to be hyper-political. Remember Gandhi, most of his decision seemed apolitical. Some of them seemed irrational too but they all ended up becoming the most effective political decisions of our time.

Why do we lack journalists like Lankesh in Hindi?

Kannada has a long tradition of rebel souls. She inherited her values from her poet father P Lankesh.

There was a writer and social scientist by the name of Shudra Srinivas in Karnataka. He was a Brahmin but he left his birth identity and adopted ‘Shudra’ as his surname. He founded an extremely radical magazine Shudra which was immensely popular in the state. His contribution is unparalleled in the fight against status-quoists.

Hindi is a language of status-quoists. The whole structure of Hindi is Brahminical. After GM Muktibodh, we have not seen any rebel in Hindi language. Contrary to us, you can find hundreds of names in Kannada. Starting from R Nadig, Shivaram Karanth, Chandrashekhara Kambara, Girish Karnad, BV Karant, UR Ananthamurthy and Prasasnna. They all fought against unjust, regressive and dogmatic forces. They were not political leaders. They fought with the might of the pen. Lankesh also belonged to that category.