EVERY GUN HAS ITS OWN TUNE

A summons from the Enforcement Directorate on Diwali day: an action against 'uttering filter'

Girish Karnad file photo

The dissenters are being tormented under the latent proceedings; barely 3 days after the Bihar Assembly results.

The violence hit the streets of Karnataka on the Tipu Sultan anniversary which the state government organized to celebrate on 20 November 2015.

The death threat passed on social media to Girish Karnad who made remarks, "If Tipu had been a Hindu and not Muslim, he would have attained the position in Karnataka that Shivaji Maharaj enjoys in Maharashtra.” and Supporting the Karnataka governments Tipu Sultan Jayanti celebrations with a suggestion that Bengaluru Kempegowda International airport should be renamed after the ‘Tiger of Mysore' is weighed up as the crime. 

 Today, Karnad is living under heavy police security after fringe groups threatened retaliation. Two police complaints have been lodged against him while an unknown person has issued death threat. Though Karnad has apologised for his statements, the protests haven't stopped.

 Minister Nitin Gadkari said that action should be taken against the old BJP guard. "The Bihar debacle is the collective responsibility of the party and not of any individual. I have told party chief Shah to initiate stringent action against those making irresponsible statements and causing damage to the party's image," Gadkari said.

"We are not a party of mother-son, father-son. Neither are we a party of a specific family. The BJP is a party of cadres. It's not a party of any leader. When we win, the party wins and when we lose, the party gets defeated," Gadkari told reporters.

 Shahrukh Khan who is one of the very few Bollywood actors to speak out against intolerance received a summons from the Enforcement Directorate on Diwali day. This came after Khan spoke out against the growing atmosphere of intolerance against the country, and attracted anger on the social media. Leaders from the BJP and its affiliates attacked him as well, saying he should go to Pakistan.

Khan was grilled for over four hours at the ED’s regional headquarters in South Mumbai on the t sale of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team shares at allegedly lower prices to a Mauritius based company in 2009. Khan reportedly told the officials that in 2009, the IPL and KKR were not profit making ventures and accordingly they estimated the share prices at that point of time. He denied any wrongdoing in the process and stated that valuation of shares increased afterwards.

 Sources said the agency, after this questioning, is expected to issue a final show-cause notice by December or early next year under FEMA in the probe involving Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and related entities.

A senior opposition leader, not willing to be quoted at this point saying, he expressed, “The RSS and BJP activists are hellbent how to promote the Hindutva agenda regardless of any ethos.”