Naxals are as dangerous as the fascists: Girish Karnad

Newsroom, Sept 15: Clarifying that he is against any ideology that takes recourse to violence, acclaimed thinker, playwright and actor Girish Karnad has said in an interview that Naxals are as dangerous as the fascists.

The Jnanpith award winner, who came under harsh criticism for carrying placard which read, ‘Me too Urban Naxal’ during Gauri Lankesh death anniversary event, said that his intention was to protest the ill-intentioned phrase, ‘Urban Naxal’. “Of course I am not a Naxal... We have a Constitution and we shall have the Constitution. It is only by the Constitution that we survive,” he said.

Asked about the reaction the placard has elicited, the writer said that anyone can go and file a complaint if he or she failed to understand the message. “But what must be said is that the complaint (against me) is no more absurd than the charges made by the police against the five people (writers, activists arrested by the Pune police on charge of ‘Maoist links’ in nation-wide raids),” he said.

“The police (who arrested the activists) are clearly asked by their politician bosses to speak nonsense. All that they claim must have been vetted by the bosses... What they are doing is the first step to Fascism. If you look at the history of German fascism, you see how they twisted German language... But fortunately our courts are still strong. The Chief Justice of India rapped the Pune police on the knuckles,” said Mr Karnad.

He lamented the barbarism becoming acceptable in the society. “Take for instance lynching. It was not quite part of our vocabulary. Now every other day, we hear about someone or the other getting lynched — some poor Muslim here and another there. It has become acceptable, normal. This is what the Americans did with the Blacks. It is a deliberate strategy,” he said.