Writers, journalists, rationalists and those of secular progressive opinion are being assassinated and face threats of assassination for opposing religious fascism in India and for condemning attacks on the Dalit communities, other minorities, among others.
Recently, two days ago, one more journalist, the female journalist Gouri Lankesh, 55 years old, was assassinated with seven bullets for writing articles critical of political parties and their representatives who support the baiting and killing of Dalit (former “untouchable” communities) and of minorities in India. Fascist forces referred to her as a “bitch” on social media sites as she had been critical of them.
This is not the first political assassination of a writer, there have been a series of assassinations of writers, rationalists and journalists, resulting in many eminent writers writing in several languages in India returning national awards.
Below is a letter written by the General Secretary of the Indian Association of Lawyers, affiliated to the International Association of Democratic Lawyers , Muralidhara Chikkamagaluru, to the Chief Minister of the regional State government on the assassination of fearless journalist Gouri Lankesh at Bengaluru.
In India the writers and journalists have publicly and unitedly opposed such attacks.
The message above is from Niloufer Bhagwat, a member of the IADL since 1974 and the Vice President of the Indian Association of Lawyers and the Vice President of the Confederation of Lawyers for Asia and the Pacific.