‘Fabric of society has further fragmented’
The Hindu
Activists discuss growing violence against dissenters on 60th birth anniversary of Gauri Lankesh
In the over four years since editor-activist Gauri Lankesh was assassinated on September 5, 2017, the fabric of society has further fragmented with increasing calls for violence and intolerance, said activists, authors and academicians. In a webinar, ‘Hate as a State Project’, to mark the 60th birth anniversary of Ms. Lankesh, guests spoke at length on the current state of society.
What started as intolerance of minorities and dissenters, has now grown into hate and open calls for violence and genocide. Those who use violence to exhort and mobilise people, will eventually face a day when language fails to do the trick and actual violence may be inevitable, said academic A. Narayana, at the webinar.
Teesta Setalvad, chairperson, Gauri Memorial Trust, said Ms. Lankesh’s journalism exposed how hate had turned into a State project and she was herself a target of hate as both political and state project. She was allegedly killed by those inspired by teachings of a fanatic hindu organisation as she was considered “anti-Hindu”, police investigation claims.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, informed the Madras High Court that it had conducted a further investigation into the 2018 Thoothukudi police firing, in which 13 anti Sterlite protesters were shot dead, and filed an additional report before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Madurai.