The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has denied allegations that they were involved in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh and said that she was killed by Hindu fascist forces.
Describing Lankesh as a “Leftist, pro-people, progressive and democratic journalist”, a release issued by Abhay, spokesman of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), condemned her murder and appealed for intensifying the struggle against “fascist Hindutva forces” beyond “symbolic protests” with “now-or-never” urgency, reported The Indian Express.
The CPI(Maoist)’s statement assumes significance as two days after her murder Lankesh’s brother Indrajit Lankesh (filmmaker and editor of Lankesh Patrike) had alleged that “she was receiving hate mails and hate letters” from Naxalites because “she succeeded in bringing a couple of them from Naxalism to the mainstream.”
Indresh’s claim was refuted by his another sister Kavitha Lankesh who had said, “I don’t approve of my brother’s airing [of] this opinion, that of suspecting Naxal links.”
It was also reported that Indresh and Gauri had different political opinions and even disputes over property. Many had also pointed out that Indresh had talked of joining BJP and was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Gauri stiffly opposed BJP and the right wing politics.
The CPI(Maoist) statement said that “It is their (BJP and Sangh Parivar’s) lowly and dirty act to pressure and get her brother to hint at the possibility of Maoist hand in her murder.”
As quoted by The Indian Express report, the CPI(Maoist) release also cited BJP leader D N Yuvraj’s statement to prove its point where Yuvraj had said that she would have been alive had she not celebrated the death of RSS people.
The CPI(Maoist) also said Lankesh had become an “eyesore for the Hindutva forces” ever since she translated the book Gujarat Files by journalist Rana Ayyub.”
It also questioned PM Modi’s silence on Lankesh’s murder and said it was “indicative of the Hindutva hand in her murder”. It raised doubts about the probe into her murder citing “no headway” in the probe into the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi.
