Bangalore, May 21: Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy, who has been openly critical of Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi, has been living under police protection for the past week.
The 81-year-old was provided protection suo motu from May 16, the day results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared. Police said the protection was first provided in anticipation of untoward incidents.
However, the security was scaled up after he complained orally about receiving threat and hate calls on Sunday.
A platoon of the City Armed Reserve (CAR) is guarding the writer's home in RMV II Stage here. Speaking to a TV channel, Ananthamurthy confirmed he had received threat calls. "I am not active on the social media, but have been getting these calls," he was quoted by a Kannada channel as having said.
The writer had said he would leave the country if Modi became PM but later clarified that he made the remark after he was overcome by emotion. However, soon after the Lok Sabha election results rolled out, the NaMo Brigade from Mangalore and later the BJP unit of Shimoga separately sent him air tickets for a one-way trip to Pakistan. Ananthamurthy's colleagues in the literary field have strongly criticized the turn of events following the results. Even the Left came to his support condemning BJP's act of sending flight tickets.
Terming the events unfortunate, writer K Marulasiddappa said URA is being targeted for expressing his views on Modi. "In a democracy, everyone has the right to speak and express opinions. It is regrettable that no responsible leader from the BJP has been able to rein in the reactions of young cadres of the party. Instead, they are provoking them to act. Let us wait and see what happens in the next five years," he said.
Director Girish Kasaravalli, stating that he was furious that such things are happening in a democratic country, said: "Ananthamurthy said he would leave the country if Modi becomes PM. You cannot take its meaning literally. There is anger behind it. Even H D Deve Gowda said he would not visit Mysore if the JD(S) candidate does not win. No one should create an atmosphere where one cannot express his or her
opinion. If such a situation arises, where is the value for democracy? Even L K Advani may not agree to what some of the people are doing to stifle the voice of Ananthamurthy."
"Following the threat calls to URA we have deployed a force in front of his house and the local police inspector is visiting the writer twice daily to take stock of the situation," police commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar said, adding that the protection will be in place till the writer requires it.
He, however, said police are not investigating the threat calls as the writer has not filed a police complaint. "The intimation given to us was oral, so there will not be any investigation into the matter," Auradkar said.
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