Prominent journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder triggers political blame game in Karnataka

Murder of a senior journalist Gauri Lankesh at her residence in Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Tuesday evening has triggered a political blame game between the BJP and the Congress, which is in power in Karnataka.

BJP leader KS Eshwarappa hitting the Congress-led Karnataka government said, “Siddaramaiah government has failed to protect lives of people including those of noted writers including Gauri and Kalburgi.”

P Muralidhar Rao, BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao said, “The murder of noted journalist and writer Lankesh Gauri is a condemnable outright. It is (Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s) responsibility to ensure proper investigation and book the criminals responsible for the heinous act behind bars.”

The murder of #GauriLankesh is condemnable outright. Onus is on Sh.Siddaramaiah to ensure proper investigation.

— P Muralidhar Rao (@PMuralidharRao) September 5, 2017

Siddaramaiah talking to journalists has expressed the incident as shocking and in a tweet he mentioned Gauri’s murder as ‘this is an assassination on democracy.’

The Karnataka Chief Minister on Twitter wrote, “Absolutely shocked to learn about the murder of renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh. I have no words to condemn this heinous crime.”

He further wrote, “In fact, this is an assassination on democracy. In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend.”

The chief minister added, “Gauri was secular and had been instrumental in bringing Naxalites into the mainstream. No one who has faith in humanity will ever kill anyone. It's shocking news for me.”

In fact, this is an assassination on democracy. In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend.

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 5, 2017

Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said soon the people behind the murder of the senior journalist will be clear. Without naming any political party he has alleged that political fringe parties could be behind the murder.

“Who is behind the incident, Naxals or any other ideological fringe parties will be know only after investigation,” added Reddy.

Also Read: Senior journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead in Bengaluru

Gauri was a journalist-activist, known for her anti-establishment, pro-Dalit stand and pro-poor. She was one of the few women editors in Kannada journalism. According to people who had worked with her said that Gauri was a fierce activist and expressed her pro-Naxal views. On Tuesday evening unknown assailants pumped in three bullets into her which led to her death.