"It has made little difference to the lives of the state’s rationalists, writers and academics that one of their own heads the government in Karnataka. A self-avowed atheist, chief minister Siddaramaiah appears powerless as rightwing extremists publicly threaten and harass the state’s intellectuals. Siddaramaiah’s helplessness can judged from a recent public statement by his media advisor Dinesh Amin Mattu.
"Almost a year after a complaint of rape was filed against Raghaveshwara Bharathi Swami of Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday said it will file the chargesheet before the magistrate court in Bengaluru on Saturday. He was recently arrested, only to be released as he had already been granted anticipatory bail. CID DGP Kishore Chandra said the 680-page chargesheet is based on the complaint filed on August 28, 2014, by the daughter of the victim, who is a Rama Katha singer.
"A student leader in Kolar has been receiving threats from pro-Hindutva groups. K. Vasudeva Reddy, a law student and district unit president of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), received a call and the caller threatened that he (Mr. Reddy) will face “death on the streets” if he did not stop speaking against religion and god. The recording of the conversation between Reddy and the caller, who identified himself as Siddu, a supporter of pro-Hindutva outfits, was widely circulated on WhatsApp. “You are aware what fate (M.M.) Kalburgi has faced.
"Six years after that infamous battering of a group of girls inside a Mangaluru pub, cultural vigilantism is no more the preserve of a few lumpens. The inclination appears to have seeped into the very fabric of Karnataka's coastal society, with even young college students — often its victims — now donning the mantle of the moral police. A boy and a girl belonging to different religious communities were suspended by the government PU College in Sullia, around 70 km from Mangaluru, last month after sparking protests on campus. Their fault: they were seen together at a cyber cafe.
"For someone topping the hit list of fundamentalist Hindu forces, Kannada writer K.S. Bhagavan is exceptionally calm and forthcoming. He doesn’t regret his statement on the sectarian nature of the Bhagavad Gita in February this year which invited threats from reactionary Hindu outfits such as the Bajrang Dal, but forcefully says he has no respect for the Gita for its exclusionism. “I brought up some stanzas of the Gita before people which clearly categorise all non-Brahmins as sinners. The Gita also says only Brahmins and Khastriyas are virtuous. I asked them if it was true.
"With the government pushing the proposed Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill, 2013 into cold storage, questions are now being asked whether the Congress is playing soft Hindutva politics. Rationalists, who had pinned their hopes on the Siddaramaiah government giving legitimacy to free thinking and raising its voice against religious bigotry, are now certain the proposal of an anti-superstition bill will not go beyond its draft stage.
"The Mangalore church attacks of September 2008, for which the Bajrang Dal claimed responsibility, triggered a massive change within the usually apolitical Catholic community in the three districts of coastal Karnataka. That change was most visible in the assembly elections of May 2013. In a surprisingly bold political statement, the Catholic clergy used the pulpit to tell the devout: "Vote for a secular political party". Things didn't have to be spelled out.
"After a Bajrang Dal threatened retired Mysore University professor KS Bhagwan with dire consequences, the rationalist told HT that he was not afraid of such intimidations. He also challenged the Hindutva group leader for a debate. Here's what he told our Bengaluru correspondent Sudipto Mondal in the wake of scholar MM Kalburgi's assassination.
"Former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University M M Kalburgi, the well-known scholar and epigraphist who courted controversy for his forthright views on religious, social and other issues, was shot dead at his Kalyanagar residence here this morning by unidentified gunmen. He was 77 years old. “Dr Kalburgi was shot dead at his Kalyangar residence in Dharwad around 8.40 AM,” Dharwad Police Commissioner Ravindra Prasad told PTI. He is the third scholar-rationalist to be assassinated in India in as many years.
"A II Pre-University student and his collegemate, a first PU student, have been placed under suspension for two weeks by a college in Sullia, 60 km away from Mangaluru, following protests by a section of students. Their “crime”, as the protesters portrayed it, was their alleged relationship despite belonging to different religious communities. This comes within a week of a 28-year-old youth being stripped and beaten up in the heart of Mangaluru while he was in a car with a colleague belonging to another religion.
