As comparisons of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi’s murder are increasingly being made with that of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, a tweet that has now been deleted is taking Twitter by storm.
A few hours after Kalburgi was shot dead by unknown assailants in Dharwad, a Bajrang Dal member in Dakshina Kannada district tweeted that after UR Ananthamurthy and Kalburgi, another scholar “was next”, but deleted it soon as he was “sorry”.
Bhuvith Shetty, Bantwal taluk convenor of the Bajrang Dal in Dakshina Kannada district had tweeted:
Then it was UR Ananthamoorty and now its MM Kalburgi. Mock Hinduism and die a dogs death. And dear K.S Bhagwan you are next.
However, after it began to be noticed, he deleted the tweet. But images are circulating on Twitter.
Writers MM Kalburgi and UR Ananthamurthy had attracted the ire of Hindutva groups in June 2014, who even filed cases against them for “offending religious sentiments”.
Cold Blooded Killings
Such tweets are an indication of the hostility that such groups have towards people of certain political persuasions.
It was spontaneous. It happened. But my intention was not to kill… I couldn’t express what I wanted to say.
— Shetty to The News Minute
Asked what it was that he could not express, Shetty said that he was “glad” when Ananthamurthy had died because of “the way he behaved… all I want to say is that don’t ridicule our religion. If you want to be secular, be secular. Don’t tell us that our religion is like this or like that. If what I said has hurt anybody, then I am ready to apologise.”
Shetty’s Twitter profile says that he has been in jail. Asked about it, he said that last year around Eid time, he and others had been involved in “protection of cattle because there was much trafficking going on”, and things went bad and cases of attempt to murder were filed against all of them.
Asked why he was so offended by the views of people Kalburgi, Ananthamurthy, or Bhagwan, the BCom graduate said:
I am keeping my beliefs, which is my private property at home. He should also keep his beliefs in his house. I am not anti-Muslim. I am against anti-Hindus.
President of the Federation of Indian Rationalists Associations Narendra Nayak told The News Minute that he suspected Kalburgi’s death had to do with his views expressed last in connection with Ananthamurthy.
Case Against Shetty
At the time of writing, Shetty had deactivated both his Twitter accounts @Garudapurana and @Garudarekhe. Twitter user Nilim Dutta had tweeted a link to his complaint to the government of Karnataka, along with an image of Shetty claiming that he had allegedly chopped off the hand of a Muslim for smuggling cows in Kalladka. The complaint could not be independently verified.
By evening, Dakshina Kannada SP Sharanappa told The News Minute that the Bantwal Town police were in the process of booking a case against Shetty under Sections 153 (spreading enmity between communities) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
(Anisha Sheth works with The News Minute. The article has been edited for length. Read here.)
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