Gauri Lankesh murder: BJP asks Karnataka govt what SIT will do if Rahul Gandhi has already given verdict

The BJP on Friday lashed out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in a strongly-worded attack on his comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh parivar in the wake of the murder of activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh. “Mala fide comments are being made on the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh,” said Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference at BJP central office in New Delhi. “Violence does not have any place in a democracy. We condemn the killing of Gauri Lankesh,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4022419” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ravi Shankar Prasad. PTI[/caption] “On this unfortunate, dastardly killing, even before any investigation could start, the great Rahul Gandhi — who always speaks without doing any homework — already gave a certificate that the Sangh and right-wing organisations were responsible for the murder,” he said, “The Karntaka chief minister should tell us about what kind of investigation the SIT will do if Rahul Gandhi has already given a verdict of ‘guilty’.” Prasad also criticised the Karnataka government for failing to provide adequate security to Lankesh and asked whether it was aware that the deceased journalist was earlier working for the surrender of Naxals. “The brother of the late Gauri Lankesh is on record saying that his sister was working for the surrender of Naxals. Was she doing it with the consent and approval of the state government? And if so, why was she not provided security?” Prasad asked. “Why was there such a security failure by the government of Karnataka?” he said. BJP also questioned the silence of some people on the killings of BJP and RSS workers in Karnataka and Kerala. “The so-called liberal people are giving such big opinions on social media on the unfortunate murder of Gauri Lankesh. Why are they silent on the murder of RSS and BJP workers in Karnataka? In Kerala, Sangh leaders are murdered. Does an RSS worker in Kerala have the right to follow his ideology or not?” he said. “For the people who are trying to teach us liberal values, don’t the murders of these RSS and BJP workers deserve attention? And these are the people who will talk about the human rights of Naxals?” the minister added. “All my so-called liberal friends maintained a silence. This hypocrisy needs to be exposed,” he said. “Why haven’t (MM) Kalburgi’s killers been caught? Who runs the government in Karnataka? Why doesn’t Rahul Gandhi ever ask the chief minister any questions?” Prasad said. “There should be no politics on this issue. We hope that the Karnataka government carries on with the probe in an honest way,” he said. Prasad’s scathing words came after Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked Modi over Lankesh’s murder . “People say that the prime minister is quiet. The point is the entire ideology is to silence voices,” the Congress vice-president had said. “The prime minister is a skilled Hindutva politician. Whatever he says has two meanings,” he had said. “No one can suppress the truth. The RSS and BJP ideology is trying to suppress the truth but this cannot happen in India,” he had also said. The Congress vice-president had also tweeted on the issue.

The RSS has also “strongly condemned” Lankesh’s murder. “The RSS deeply regrets the brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh. We pray to God to give strength to the family to bear the loss,” The Indian Express quoted V Nagaraj, RSS sanghachalak of Dakshina Madhya Kshetra, as saying. He had also urged the Karnataka government to conduct an “impartial” probe in the matter. Unlike the BJP press conference on Friday, however, the RSS statement was more focused on condeming the crime than attacking the allegations made by an Opposition leader.