BJP MLA Jeevaraj said had Gauri Lankesh not written against the Sangh Parivar she may have been alive today.
HIGHLIGHTS
- 1 BJP MLA Jeevraj said Gauri’s writings were unacceptable
- 2 Guari’s sister too said her ideology led to her murder
- 3 According to her sister, Gauri was foolishly fearless
Did Gauri Lankesh’s vitriolic writing cost her her life? Well, if you go by a statement made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former minister Jeevaraj at a meeting in Koppa Taluk of Chikkamagaluru, he said that if only Gauri had not written about the celebration of the “death” of the Sangh Parivar, she would probably have been alive today.
Jeevaraj, while addressing a public meeting of BJP party workers, said several RSS workers have lost their lives in this Congress-ruled state. The Siddaramaiah government has not initiated any action against those who murdered 11 BJP-Sangh Parivar members till date.
India Today has exclusively accessed the video where Jeevaraj says: “During the Congress government we have seen how RSS workers have lost their lives. Gauri Lankesh had written in her paper about ‘chaddigala marana homa’ or the slaughter of the RSS. Now if Gauri Lankesh had refrained from writing articles like that she would have probably been alive today. Gauri is like a sister to me but the way she has written against us (BJP and Sangh), it is unacceptable”.
Sringeri BJP MLA DN Jeevaraj has made provocative statements about senior journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder, suggesting that she was killed for her statements against the right wing, reported TV9 Kannada.
Speaking at a bike rally on Wednesday, Jeevaraj – a former BJP whip in the Karnataka assembly – said this while trying to argue that the BJP provided better safety and security than the Congress.
In the video accessed by Public TV, Jeevaraj is heard saying, “When BJP workers were murdered, if this same Gauri Lankesh had condemned Siddaramaiah, would her murder have happened?”
She may have written some things against us in her paper. That is democracy, that is a different matter. But who will pay the cost of her life?
“(Under the BJP government) was Kalburgi killed? Was Gauri Lankesh killed? Then, BJP had protected everyone,” the MLA added.
Reacting to the statements, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said, “What is the meaning of that? What is the inference we should draw if a statement like that is given? Doesn’t it seem like these people are behind it?”
Motive of Gauri Lankesh’s Murder
Jeevaraj’s suggestive speech has come at a time when the police are still unsure of the motives behind Gauri’s murder. The journalist was shot to death at her residence on Tuesday evening by unidentified men.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Gauri’s sister Kavitha Lankesh said that she believed her sister had been killed over ideological differences. Asked to elaborate, Gauri’s brother Indrajit replied on Kavitha’s behalf to say:
She was a hardcore critic of right wing extremists. She was criticizing them through her tabloid. So, police are investigating if that’s the intention behind her killing. CM Siddaramaiah had asked her to be the head of a committee which dealt with bringing the Naxalites into the mainstream, Gauri was helping to rehabilitate them. So that is another angle.
Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavita Lankesh too in an interview to India Today said she believes that “it was Gauri’s thinking and ideology that caused her death”.
Kavita did say that Gauri spoke her mind and at times Kavita felt that her sister Gauri was foolishly fearless.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gauri-lankesh-rss-bjp-mla-jeevaraj/1/1043253.html
September 9, 2017 at 4:31 pm
The statement by the politician indicates intolerance attitude of the political leaders. This may not be a good gesture in a democratic set up which thrives on dissent and freedom