Trivandrum, Aug. 31 : Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday termed murder of renowned scholar M M Kalburgi as a ‘national tragedy’, and said it was a betrayal of Indian civilization.
“To kill somebody for believing these things is not what our civilization is about. It is profoundly a betrayal of Indian civilization. This is a national tragedy because, we have lost a human being who made a great contribution to education and the world of ideas in India,” Tharoor told ANI.
“What we have truly suffered, is an assault on India’s soul. What we are seeing is that people are being killed for their ideas and beliefs, and that is a completely tragic development in our national life,” he added.
The Congress leader said that rationalists are being particularly targeted, but this is not how India is.
“We have seen this happening. There was a tragedy in Pune. Rationalists are being particularly targeted. This is not what India is about. India is a country where we always have the right to have different beliefs,” Tharoor said.
“What Dr. Kalburgi believed and wrote about, what the Charvaka philosophers have said and written 3000 years ago. This is a part of the great Hindu and Indian tradition of belief and diversity of thought and action,” he said.
Tharoor said, “I condemn unreservedly the killers, and I also ask all those who have given aide in comfort to such extremist behavior, to stop and reflect on what they are doing to the soul of India.”
Kalburgi was shot at close range by two assailants at his home in Dharwad, Karnataka on Sunday morning. He was declared brought dead by doctors at the city hospital.
Hubli Police Commissioner Ravindra said police are looking at different aspects of the case with an open mind. (ANI)