‘Karnad fought against hypocrisy, injustice’

Tributes were paid to Jnanpith awardee and well-known playwright late Girish Karnad during a programme held in Udupi on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering, thinker K Rajashekar said that Karnad’s death was a huge loss to the literary world. Sadly, his death is being celebrated by the rightist ideologists. He lamented that the Indian culture was not about celebrating the death.

“The enemies of Karnad had declared that U R Ananthmurthy died when Modi became the prime minister for the first time and Karnad died when Modi became the prime minister for the second time with maximum majority,” he said and added that the country has a culture of condoling the death of even enemies.

Those claiming to be true Hindus are going against the tradition of the country’s soil, he lamented. Both Ananthmurthy and Karnad had fought against hypocrisies. Both legends knew that they have enemies all over the country owing to their political ideologies. Although they were lone in their fight, both were strong. Karnad fought against the injustice and was also the voice for the voiceless, Rajashekar added.

Thinker Phaniraj said that Karnad, who was an outstanding theatre personality, was an independent thinker.

“He never succumbed to any pressure. He stood by his statements and never took back his words,” Phaniraj added.

‘A born fighter’

Retired Principal of Poorna Prajna College Nataraj Dheekshit said that Karnad only opposed the practices and not the thoughts of his opponents. He was a person with strong views and a born fighter, he said.

Writer Vaidehi said writers, like Dr Shivaram Karanth, Lankesh, Ananthamurthy and Karnad, tried to plug the loopholes in the society.