Karnataka: Gareddi Govindraj decries growing intolerance

Raichur: Voicing concern over growing fundamentalism and rising intolerance in the country as a result of extreme rightist and leftist views gaining ground, noted writer, Dr Gareddi Govindraj called for the promotion of a “middle path” at the ongoing Kannada Sahitya Sammelana on Saturday.

Delivering a lecture on “Democracy and Freedom of Expression,”   he recalled the killing of well known intellectual, Dr M M Kalaburagi not too long ago and regretted that such attacks on those who spoke their mind still continued.

“Various writers like Dr Chandrashekhar Patil, Dr Girish Karnad, Dr K S Bhagawan and myself are living with police security, which is very bad. I don’t approve of the views of Dr Bhagawan, but he has every right to express them. By shooting him or somebody else we may kill a person, but not the views he advocates,” he underlined.

Calling both leftists and rightists “brainwashed,” he observed that there were a large number of independent thinking people as well in the country, who did not subscribe to either ideology.

Calling the rise of  fundamentalism dangerous for India, he said it was spreading intolerance and strongly advocated the need for a dialogue to resolve the differences among those who advocated leftist  and rightist views.

“This dialogue is needed in the best interest of democracy.  But I don’t think there is a conducive atmosphere for it as both the leftists and rightists are brainwashed,” he regretted.