September 7th, 7.00 AM - Newspapers are flooded with news of Gauri Lankesh's assassination. I don't know who Gauri Lankesh is.
September 8th, 7.30 AM - Newspapers are still echoing Gauri Lankesh's cold blooded murder. I do not know still who Gauri Lankesh is.
I read the insides. I am filled with rage and fury. Who are you? Who gave you the right to pass verdict? I am not alone...there are thousands like me who question these killings. I am sure you are not alone. Gauri Lankesh was not alone. There was Pansare, Dabholkar and Kalburgi. And there will be many more. What should have united us, divides us. Ideology, radicalism, leftist, rightist...we are living in an era of fragmented thoughts and heightened pseudo nationalism. India has been a land of peaceful coexistence. We are a subcontinent not for no reasons. I remember my Hindi teacher in school. Her favorite word in the whole wide world was' sahishnuta' and we would often jibe if that was the only Shudh Hindi word she knew. What she definitely knew was that the future would be marred with intolerance and hatred. She was planting our minds with seeds of harmony and tolerance.
I open twitter. It is a mixed bag platform with lot of them praising the dastardly act. I again ask who are you. What business do you have minding other's business for them. What intensity of hatred are we breeding in our minds to wipe out any voice different from ours. Suddenly policing has become so rampant and verdict so spontaneous. We stalk, we condemn and then we kill. We are not shy of accepting our deed for it is a heroic act to save our ideology and we the anti nationals are the new patriots. What we definitely forget is that voices are not to be silenced, acts of courage are not to be scared, support for human causes is not going out of fashion. It will only double up and rise with vehemence every time a Gauri Lankesh is killed or a Dalit is lynched. Efforts towards a peaceful coexistence will continue to crawl and finally one day will stand up amidst the crowd of haters and anti nationals. We are one, we will not let you divide or suppress us.
And to someone who said Gauri was a B****, you Mr are a swine and a very very wild and uncultured swine.
JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
