The cold-blooded murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening marks yet another assault, among countless others in recent times, on individual freedoms. The rise in cultural intolerance and the muzzling of dissent by vigilante groups has become an alarming feature of the Modi government's tenure. While one cannot jump to conclusions on what motivated Lankesh’s assassins, the manner of killing bears a resemblance to the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi. The common factor is that they were vocal critics of the Hindu far right. If Kalburgi’s interpretation of Basavanna’s teachings earned the wrath of the self-appointed vigilantes, Dabholkar and Pansare lost their lives in 2013 and 2015, respectively, for espousing rationalism, and challenging casteism and dogma. Gauri Lankesh, the editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike , spoke for media and cultural freedoms, locking horns with the cow vigilantes, love jihad campaigners and others of their ilk. She expressed solidarity with novelist Yogesh Master (he was assaulted for the portrayal of Ganesha in his novel Dhundi ), KS Bhagwan (a writer who has already received death threats for his views on the Bhagavad Gita) and Mahesh Chandra Guru (a professor in Mysuru for his views on Mahishasura), among many others. For praising Kanhaiya Kumar over the ‘sedition’ fracas in JNU in 2016, she was trolled as being anti-national. The point here is not whether Lankesh was right or wrong in her convictions, but to defend her right of self-expression in an increasingly edgy atmosphere where nationalism and the practice of religion are being rigidly defined. Thus far, both the Centre and the governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra have failed to stand up to the moral police. Investigations into the killings of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi have made no progress.

Meanwhile, the world is watching. India, ranked 136 out of 180 countries, was placed in the “least free” category in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index. The 2017 India Freedom Report , brought out this May by media watchdog Hoot, reports 54 reported attacks on journalists, and 45 sedition cases against individuals and groups between January 2016 and February 2017. Add to this the earlier baggage of black laws such as the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (which is a UPA brainchild) and it would not be wide off the mark to say that the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution have been repeatedly sought to be suppressed by those in power, regardless of political leanings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response to this bleak state of affairs has been unconvincing, leaving it to party colleagues to deal with the public discourse. But, as the face of his party and the leader of the Government, the nation — and indeed, the world — looks to him to take the lead in restoring faith in the Constitution and rule of law. Otherwise, the rhetoric of development and progress will ring hollow in an atmosphere of insecurity and social polarisation.

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