Hours after scholar, rationalist and writer M M Kalburgi was shot dead by unknown assailants in Dharwad in Karnataka, a 24-year-old man who claimed to be a member of the Bajrang Dal in Dakshina Kannada district tweeted that after UR Ananthamurthy and Kalburgi, another scholar “was next.”
The scholar referred to in the tweet, was K S Bhagwan, a Mysuru-based scholar.
On Wednesday, KS Bhagwan received a threat, a letter sent by an anonymous person that said, “No police will save you when we come.”
The letter also said ‘3 successful’, which could be indicating the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dhabolkar and MM Kalburgi, said a police source.
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KS Bhagwan was in the news recently as he had challenged the Pejavar seer to an open debate on the Ramayana. In February and April, Bhagwan had been in the news for saying that he wanted to burn a copy of the Ramayana as it was “an extremely unholy, insulting and dangerous book”. These comments lead to protests by the BJP’s Yuva Morcha outside his house in Mysuru.
Mysuru Police Commissioner B Dayananda told The News Minute that the police were investigating the threat. “We are aware of the threat and are looking into it. KS Bhagwan has already been provided security by the department.”
The author however was unperturbed and said there were other ways to react of one dislikes another’s work than issue threats.
“I would only ask people threatening me to read my work. If they read the entire work and still disagree, I am ready to have a debate. If they are able to convince me that what I wrote was wrong, I have no problem with giving in,” Bhagwan told The News Minute.
He compared his work to how impurities are removed from a well. “Over time impurities will accumulate in a well, just like impurities cloud our minds and culture. In our village, the well’s depth is increased so that pure water comes in and flushes away the impurities.”
KS Bhagwan, a retired Mysore University professor was a friend of MM Kalburgi. “We met for the first time during that period (late 80s) at a conference. The moment Prof Kalburgi was introduced to me, he gave me a tight hug and said, "You and I are are sailing in the same boat." We both had a hearty laugh and remained close friends ever since,” he told Hindustan Times’ Sudipto Mondal.
Inputs- Anisha Sheth.