Demand for CBI probe

Hyderabad: The CPI and CPM and other Left parties on Wednesday condemned senior journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder in Bengaluru on Tuesday and called for the CBI probe into the gory incident.

In a release by Hari Singh Kang, member of the CPM Politburo said, “The murder fits into the familiar pattern of eliminating voices that question the current climate of hate and intolerance by the RSS/ BJP.

The killings of Govind Pansare, Dabholkar, Kalburgi and now Gauri Lankesh are related. They were vociferous in their opposition to superstition, obscurantism and the perpetuation of the communal agenda by the right-wing Hindutva forces.”

CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said she was murdered for fighting fearlessly against communalism and the Hindutva forces.

He pointed out that earlier leaders of the Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha were arrested but they are out on bail. He termed all the murders as meticulously planned and executed.

Widespread protests by journalists, writers and civil society activists were held on Wednesday to condemn the murder. Besides probe by the CBI, they wanted the Centre to enact a special law to protect journalists and sought capital punishment to the culprits.

Sporting black badges, hundreds of scribes took part in the protest and raised slogans seeking punishment to the killers. Slogans of “Save Democracy” rented the air.

Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU) secretary-general D Amar said that some people want only those who endorse their view-point to live. “Arresting the culprits is not a big issue, but the government of Karnataka should bring out who are the people behind the attack,” he said.

IJU secretary Y Narender Reddy said that they have been pitching hard for a special law to curb the attacks on scribes. Prof P L Vishweshwar Rao observed that those who oppose the RSS and BJP ideology were being eliminated.

Editorial director of Sakshi daily K Ramchandra Murthy condemned the murder and sought action against the culprits. The demonstrators displayed placards carrying slogans ‘I am also Gauri’, ‘Stop murdering Democracy’, ‘Down with Fascism’, ‘Protect the journalists’, ‘You can’t kill us all’ etc. They observed a two minutes’ silence as a mark of respect for Gauri Lankesh.

Earlier in the day, the journalists protested near Press Club at Somajiguda. Protests in front of Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram were reported.