Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Sep 6: Catholic Bishop's Conference of India (CBCI) has termed the killing of journalist, Gauri Lankesh, as a dastardly, brutal and cowardly act and strongly and unequivocally condemned the murder. "We salute her for the courage with which she wrote, the conviction with which she lived her life, and the boldness with which she fought the forces of evil, Hatred, and corruption," it said in a press statement.
CBCI noted that the murder of this versatile and brave journalists follows the murders of Sahitya Academy award winning writer, M M Kalburgi in Dharwad, rationalist, Govind Pansare in Kolhapur and Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, as well as mob lynchings carried out by so called Gau Rakshaks in the name of protecting cows, political killings in Kerala and other hate crimes. CBCI has appealed to all leaders, people, communities and persons to shun ideologies of hatred and embrace principles of love, peace and harmony. It wished that values of peace, harmony, brotherhood and tolerance will prevail over other feelings.
CBCI recollected that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, had told the nation during the Independence Day address that violence has no place in free India. It has called for uniification of hearts in support of those fighting hatred, caste, regional or religious bigotry and fundamentalism.
It also recalled what Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Young India in 1925, "by a long course of prayerful discipline, I have ceased for over forty years to hate anybody. I know that this is a big claim. Nevertheless, I make it in all humility. But I can and I do hate evil wherever it exists. My non-cooperation has its root not in hatred, but in love. My personal religion peremptorily forbids me to hate anybody. I learnt this simple yet grand doctrine when I was twelve years old through a school book, and the conviction has persisted up to now. It is daily growing on me. It is a burning passion with me."
Catholic Church In India said it prays for peace, harmony and victory of light over darkness, love over hatred, and good over evil.