Outrage over Muthalik’s remark on Gauri Lankesh murder

Pramod Muthalik, chief of right wing group Sri Ram Sene, compares Gauri

Lankesh to a “dog”

There have been widespread objections on social media and various other news platforms at Pramod Muthalik’s remark on the Gauri Lankesh murder .

Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the Karnataka-based rightwing group Sri Ram Sene, has provoked anger with a comment in defense of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hitting out at people who have accused PM Modi of keeping silent on the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, Pramod Muthalik questioned on Sunday, “why should the prime minister react if some dog dies in Karnataka?”

He was speaking at a public meeting in Bengaluru.

Pramod Muthalik’s Sri Ram Sene is notorious for a vicious attack in 2009, on young men and women at a pub in Mangalore. Investigators are looking into the outfit’s possible links to the murder last year of Gauri Lankesh, who was known for her strong views against rightwing groups.

“Two murders happened in Karnataka and two happened in Maharashtra during the Congress regime. No one is uttering a word over Congress government’s failure. Instead, they are asking why PM Modi is silent and not commenting on Gauri Lankesh’s death. Many wanted PM Modi to react after Lankesh’s death. Why should PM react if some dog dies in Karnataka?” news agency ANI said quoting Pramod Muthalik.

Muthalik’s comments come three days after Parashuram Waghmare, the last of six suspects in the Gauri Lankesh killing, was arrested by the special investigating team (SIT).

After a photograph surfaced on social media of the Sri Ram Sene chief with the murder accused, Muthalik admitted to knowing him. Later, he backtracked, saying, “There is no connection between Sri Ram Sene and Waghmare. He is neither our member nor our worker…This I say very clearly.”

The investigation team probing Gauri Lankesh’s murder has summoned Sri Ram Sene leader Rakesh Math for questioning, a senior police official told news agency PTI on Friday.

“We have summoned Rakesh Math but he has not come yet,” the SIT official said adding that they wanted to find out whether Math was involved in the assassination and whether he “brainwashed” Waghmare into participating in the plot.

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence in Bengaluru on September 5 last year.