One more murder and another glaring silence - wake up India

Indian writer, scholar, and rationalist Mr. MM Kalburgi was murdered a few days back outside his residence. He was under the radar of some fanatic organizations for his views on religion, especially Hinduism. Finally, he was murdered like some other thinkers like Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and CPI leader Mr. Govind Panse. These three murders symbolize the recent disturbing trend of prevailing intolerance in Indian society where people who dare to challenge the status quo or whose thoughts are not in alignment with the majority are attacked or eliminated. As if these murders are not serious and disturbing enough there is a glaring silence about these barbaric acts, it looks like people expect these things to happen. Only a certain section of society is questioning these acts, the media and most people are busy debating some celebrity kid murder or some other issues. No doubt that any murder should be condemned and covered by the media, but one can easily see the purposeful ignorance of media which shows which direction we are moving as a society.

Disagreeing with someone's ideas or thoughts, criticizing them, or questioning them is an acceptable way of debate and discussion in any civilized society. But physically attacking people, threatening them, forcing them to resign from their jobs,  and forcing them to withdraw their articles and books are signs of an intolerant and barbaric society. The environment of fear and unwanted aggression is not conducive to the intellectual growth of any society. Many countries in this world live in this type of environment, and we can see what is their situation today. India by large is perceived as a very tolerant and inclusive society, the very diverse nature of its population is proof of this. Whatever success it achieved as a country can be largely attributed to this tolerant nature where intellectuals were not scared to express their opinions and ideas. But the occurrence of such incidents put a big question mark on this claim. A society that fails to protect its intellectuals will also fail to protect its intellect. The display of such unwanted aggression towards intellectuals is totally unwanted and I am amazed that respective governments didn't react strongly against any of these murders. The whole of India was on the roads after that infamous Delhi gang rape and people protested against that inhuman crime, these murders are also in the same category. They are equally shameful, disturbing, and inhumane acts. The protection and safety of intellectuals of society is important, especially when in such a hostile environment. If this aggression and attacks are in any way a result of the recent change of political situation in India, then it should be a matter of big concern to the current ruling party of India (BJP). They should not hesitate to take all required actions to remove this atmosphere of fear and insecurity. I hope these incidents are not taken lightly, I know that these murders won't make any media headlines or won't find a place on the front page of national newspapers, but these things are concerning. Such incidents can decay the social fabric slowly and if ignored they can result in serious damage to India in the long term. 

I strongly register my protest against these attacks. I am deeply hurt and pained to see that some people are attacked and murdered just for expressing their thoughts. These murders are no different than the recent killings of some bloggers in Bangladesh. I hope people from India (as well as Bangladesh) take serious note of this attack on freedom of expression and act to bring back that tolerant and fearless environment. I hope people learn to agree to disagree and carry on discussion rather than choosing the path of violence. I offer my sincere tribute to these brave free thinkers who dared to express themselves even in a very hostile environment, I salute their braveness and courage with which they fought against all odds, I hope the society for which they sacrificed their lives won't forget their sacrifice and their thoughts.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

Narendra Dabholkar - the man who challenged my beliefs

Today morning (20th August) I woke up reading the shocking news of the assassination of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar. Some unidentified men gunned him down in Pune, this was more shocking because it happened in Pune, the place where I was born and grew up, the place which is considered very progressive and tolerant, an educational capital of Maharashtra.

For me, he was the man who challenged my beliefs and my faith when I was a teenager. I came to know him through his books. I never met him personally in my life but knew him only through his books, his social movements, and his organization, Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (Maharashtra blind faith eradication committee). I was born and brought up in a neighborhood where superstitions were very common and regularly practiced. This was going on for years so as a part of our culture and tradition, everyone thought it was our duty to follow it. No questions were asked, and no explanations were offered. I was also one of many who followed things as instructed, blindly without asking any questions. I was scared of bad omens, prayed regularly, was proud of my caste, and used to think that I was superior to girls just because I was a boy, the list can go on and on. However, as a teenager when I read his books for the first time, I was taken aback, I was shocked, and I thought, what the heck this man is talking about? Why is he trying to destroy our culture and traditions? Why is he not talking about any other religions? But when I looked around me carefully, I realized that whatever this man was saying did make sense, whatever questions he was asking were very logical, and whatever explanations he was offering sounded logical. After initial hesitation and struggle, I started understanding this man. Due to the influence of those books on my thinking, I started questioning almost everything around me. My questioning made many people uncomfortable and angry. Some even started hating me but my questioning never stopped, when I didn't get any answers from people around me I tried to find them on my own, and it started my journey of self-realization. This man initiated it and it's still going on.

People say all superstitions are not bad, and many are harmless. I agree with this, but his fight was not only against those superstitions but was also against that mindset that forbids questioning. The mindset that crushes any objections raised against established beliefs. He fought against this along with his coworkers for more than three decades in Maharashtra on all levels. The power of his movement was so great that even the state government, not willing to touch anything that is even remotely concerned with religion for fear of hurting people's sentiments has been considering (for a long time now) bringing anti-superstition law and relentless efforts of Dr. Dabholkar and his team on all levels was one of the main reason for this development. He was about to achieve what was considered an impossible thing to do (to force the government to form a law to stop exploitation in the name of religion and God). In this whole process, he made a lot of friends as well as a lot of enemies. Some people continuously abuse him and his organization, they brand him anti-Hindu, and anti-God. They want to preserve inhuman practices and rituals in the name of culture and tradition, for them, he was their number one enemy. But as they couldn't defeat him intellectually and couldn't answer his questions, they wanted to shut him up, and stop him from asking more uncomfortable questions, finally they did it by killing him. But people like Dabholkar don't die, they live through their ideas and thoughts. His physical presence is not required to carry on his mission. He has empowered many people who can fight against this social evil.

I am really sad due to his murder, but he was a fighter and he died like a fighter. This was the man who challenged my beliefs and my faith, made me angry, shook me, educated me about superstitions that were very common around me, then, ultimately changed my outlook. He shaped my thinking and taught me to ask questions. I am sure like me he changed many others. His murder is a slap on the progressive movement in Maharashtra, it's a real shame that such a thing happened in the state that calls itself progressive, the state that produced reformists like Phule and Karve. As a Maharashtrian, I am really ashamed. Those antisocial elements who were scared of his ability to expose lies gunned him down, as they couldn't defeat him intellectually so they killed him like a coward, the same as some people did to Mahatma Gandhi. His spirit won't die, there are 100s of Narendra Dabholkars now, how many they can kill?

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this incident.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)

Links:

1. Anti-superstition leader Narendra Dabholkar shot dead

2. http://antisuperstition.org/