OBITUARY
WHENGirish Karnadpassed
awayin his sleepin the earlyhoursof
June 10 at his home in central
Bengaluru’s LavelleRoad, anera
cameto an end.Hiscontributionsto
theatre, cinemaandliteraturewere
immense, andtrueto the dictum that
all art is political, he consciouslytook
spirited public positionsin keeping
withhis expansiveworldview.This
oftenmadehimthetargetof right-
wing elements. Investigators re-
vealedthathe wason theinfamous
hit list prepared by Hinduright-wing
extremistelements that took the
livesof peoplesuchas GauriLankesh
andM.M.Kalburgi.
In keepingwithhis commitment
to the politics of secularism,evenas
his healthdeteriorated becauseof a
debilitatinglungconditionover the
pastfewyears, he madethe effortto
be physicallypresentat twomemor-
able eventsin Bengaluru against
right-wing politics.In June2017,he
participated in the “Notin my Name”
protests against the lynching of
Muslims, on thestepsof theTown
Hallholdinga placard. On Septem-
ber5 lastyear, he wasseenat an
eventto marktheanniversaryof
GauriLankesh’sbrutalkilling. He
spokebriefly at this day-longeventat
BengaluruCentral Universitythat
wasa jamboreeof publicintellectu-
als in Karnataka. At the sameevent,
he wasphotographedwearinga plac-
ard thatread“MeTooUrban Naxal”,
appropriating theridiculous label
thatthe right-wing wasanointing in-
tellectuals with.
In the culturalandpoliticalland-
scapeof Karnataka, thereweretwo
issuesin recentmemorythathe act-
ivelytookpositionson thatputhim
at loggerheadswiththefollowers of
Hindutva:thefirst wasthe effortsby
theBharatiya JanataParty (BJP)
andalliedorganisations of the Sangh
Parivarsuchas theBajrang Dalto
changethe character of the syncretic
shrineof Sri GuruDattatreyaBab-
abudan Swamy Dargah in
Chikkamagaluruto thatof an exclus-
ive Hindu temple. Karnadwasop-
posedto this.GauriLankeshhas
writtenabouthowshetravelledto
Chikkamagaluru (Chikmagalur
then) withKarnad to assess the
groundrealityat the shrinein 2003.
Shewritesthatit wasKarnad’s idea
to visittheplaceandthaton seeing
photographs of a banner by the
Bajrang Dalthatstated“Committed
to friendship,butreadyto destroy”,
he explodedin anger.WritesGauri
Lankesh:“Karnadwasfurious when
he readthis.He thundered,‘Whom
do theywantto destroy?Lookat the
words they use. ‘Muscle power’,
‘streams of blood’,‘destroying the en-
emy’....Is thisevenKannada?”
GauriLankeshwritesthatKar-
nadfurthersaid:“DattaJayantior
DattaMalaarenotourtraditionat
all. It is not religionbut politicsin theCommitted to
secularism
GirishKarnad believedthatit waswrongtoviewmedievalIndian
historyas a clashbetweenHinduismandIslamandthatoftenmade
himthetarget oftheRight.BYVIKHARAHMEDSAYEED
HASSAN,DECEMBER
2003 :GirishKarnad
participatingin a protest
againstthedetentionof
membersof the
ProgressiveForumwho
weredemonstrating
againstDattaJayanthi
celebrationsat Datta
Peethaat Bababudangiri
nearChikmagalur.V.SREENIVASA MURTHY