As the nation celebrates freedom, ironically, over 20 writers in Karnataka have been living under round-the-clock police security for years now. This follows their names figuring in hit-lists of those who allegedly killed two writers in the State - M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh -- and them receiving multiple threat letters.
“Writers having to live under armed security over threats to their lives is not a good sign for any democracy. It is shameful and a sign of the times,” said K.S. Bhagavan, a plot to kill whom was allegedly in the advanced stages in 2018 by the alleged killers of Kalburgi and Gauri.
Another senior writer Baragur Ramachandrappa, who has been living under security for over seven years now, finds the whole situation “absurd.” “I never thought of myself as someone who had to live under security to protect myself,” he said, adding that security cover changes life in subtle ways.
