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MM Kalburgi's death will not go in vain. Five thinkers attacked in recent times

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Devanik Saha
Devanik SahaSep 01, 2015 | 14:38

MM Kalburgi's death will not go in vain. Five thinkers attacked in recent times

As already known, noted scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi University, MM Kalburgi, was shot dead by unidentified assailants at his home. He had received many threats from fringe Hindu outfits over his remarks on idol worship and Hinduism, which were perceived as anti-Hindu.

Sharing critical views about religion and faith in India always attracts unwanted attention. Not just Kalburgi, there were few others who have been attacked due to their bold views on matters of faith and religion.

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1. TJ Joseph: Joseph was a Malayalam professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha, Kerala. During a college exam in 2010, he prepared a question for which he extracted a text from a literary work of writer PT Kunju Muhammed. That was a conversation between a lunatic and God and he named the lunatic as Muhammed, making it a conversation between Muhammed and God. Angered by the question, few students gave the question paper to few Muslim outfits. A few days later, while he was returning home with his family, few activists from Popular Front of India, a Muslim outfit dragged him out of his car and chopped his right palm. In May this year, 13 people were found guilty and convicted under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. 

2. Govind Pansare: Govind Pansare, a senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, was a prominent activist in Maharashtra and worked for the welfare of the poor and suppressed. His popular book Shivaji Kon Hota (Who was Shivaji), talked about how Shivaji was the people's king as against the portrayal of Shivaji as a Hindu king by fringe groups. The book countered the propaganda of the Hindutva outfits and pointed out that Shivaji was a secular ruler whose top generals and associates were Muslims. His frequent speeches challenging the communal agenda of right-wing outfits angered them. On February 16, 2015, he and his wife were shot by gunmen, which lead to his death four days later.

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3. Narendra Dabholkar: Dabholkar was a rationalist and anti-superstition activist from Maharashtra. He established the Maharashtra Andhrashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti which fought against superstition and targeted god men and their superstitious practices. On August 20, 2013 in Pune, he was shot by unidentified gunmen and died on the spot. Four days later, the government promulgated the "Anti-Superstition and Black Magic ordinance", for which Dabholkar had fought hard and was vehemently opposed by BJP and Shiv Sena, citing that it would affect Hindu tradition and cultures. He was also awarded the Padma Shri posthumously in 2014.

4. Shireen Dalvi: Shireen Dalvi was the Editor of Mumbai edition of Urdu language newspaper "Awadhnama". In January this year, she came under severe attack for republishing cartoons from Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine which had published several provocative picture of Prophet Muhammad, which led to militants attacking their Paris office killing several staff members. She was fired from her job and several FIRs were filed, which led to her arrest but she was granted bail by the court. However, she received several death threats and has been forced to live in hiding since then owing to fear from Muslim fundamentalist groups.

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5. Perumal Murugan: Murugan is a Tamil writer and scholar, was attacked by various caste groups as they alleged that his book "Mathorubhagan" insulted a Hindu deity as well as the gounder community, to which Murugan himself belongs to. There were several protests for many days by various groups and communities, which led Murugan to withdraw his all his novels, short stories and poem and announce his "death" on Facebook, which meant that he would cease to write from now on. It read "Author Perumal Murugan is dead. He is no God. Hence, he will not resurrect. Hereafter, only P Murugan, a teacher, will live". It also called on his publishers not to sell his books and promises to compensate their losses and advised the readers to burn their copies of his books.

Last updated: September 01, 2015 | 16:09
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