Today, in Karnataka social activists, communists and other such groups are growing rapidly in number. The members of these groups are mainly the elite like Girish Karnad, G K Govinda Rao, B K Chandrasekhar, Kavitha Lankesh and (the late) Gauri Lankesh. They are so- called intellectuals, but in fact are like parasites, queuing up to get awards like Kempegowda, Rajayostava and so on just to corner some government benefits.
Some of them have a lifestyle which is just about sitting in the Press Club and smoking and drinking in the evenings. They also spend time with the upper classes to build contacts and call themselves part of ‘women liberation’ groups.
Girish Karnad, who has a cultural background, now calls himself a social worker. He is definitely an Urban Naxal as he himself announced it to the world by wearing a placard carrying the admission.
To top it all, now that he has revealed this in public, all the banned organisations from the northern states are likely to contact him and come to our state to seek his help. This is what happened with Gauri Lankesh as she wanted to bring Naxals out into the open and before television cameras. But these are anti-social acts.
There was a Dalit movement called ‘Kabir Kala Manch’ which was banned by the Maharashtra government. This man (Girish Karnad) goes there to release a CD and gives a speech in Marathi and English and says that Kannada is only meant for south India.
Where did he get the money to go there? All these people are frustrated with the system and take the law into their own hands. But why is the police not taking any action against them? If tomorrow I wear a placard like this and go to some event, will they leave me alone? No, they will certainly arrest me. Why is the law different for them and me? Why is no one taking action? I complained and I hope action is taken against him.
I challenge him to give back the award and reward from the government and join such groups if he is interested. Even (the late) U R Ananth Murthy used government money and hurt people’s sentiments by speaking badly about God. But he was still buried on government land.
Even (the late Kannada superstar) Dr Raj Kumar was buried on government land, which is perhaps understandable but why also (his wife) Parvathama Rajkumar? She was not given any awards by the government. Why didn’t anyone question this?
I have deep respect for Girish Karnad. Let him live long, but I don’t want a Kala grama or any government land to be allotted for his burial.
Do you know how much money goes to Kannada and culture? Nearly Rs 80 lakh was given to just one function held by the Narayana Gowda organisation in the Palace Grounds, according to information received to a RTI query.
There is no difference between an urban and rural Naxal. A theft is a theft and the law is equal for everyone. Even I can do what they do, but that would be against society. There are so many other ways to protest. Now that he (Karnad) has declared that he is an Urban Naxal a case must be registered against him and he should be questioned.
(Amruthesh N.P., advocate is the lawyer for all the 12 men accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case)
