Harsha Hindu, 22, was hacked to death on February 20, 2022 when the BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai was Karnataka chief minister. The Bajrang Dal activist had left home to have dinner with friends at a restaurant. However, a gang hacked him with swords. At the time of his death, Harsha had four cases against him, including rioting and causing intentional insult to religion through his alleged social media posts against Prophet Mohammed.

The probe was soon handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which filed a chargesheet. The case is currently in the trial stage. On April 18, a special court in Bengaluru framed charges of terrorism, murder and conspiracy against 10 accused in the case.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Ashwini narrated how things unfolded after Harsha’s murder. “A lot of people donated money to us. It went up to Rs 1.5 crore. Rs 50 lakh each was kept as fixed deposit for my parents and a Rs 10 lakh loan was cleared. With the remaining Rs 40 lakh, we formed a trust in the name of Harsha and started helping people,” she says.

According to Ashwini, things began to turn sour with the Sangh and former BJP deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa after the family sponsored and organised a Ganesha festival in August 2022. The event, which had Harsha’s name everywhere, saw the participation of over 10,000 people.

Meanwhile, members of the family were invited for events in Shivamogga and other parts of the state. “We got many invitations to attend events as they were holding programmes in Harsha’s memory. We also started donating the interest amount to people in need but it did not go well with the local MLA (Eshwarappa).”

Denied a ticket in last year’s Assembly elections, Eshwarappa was promised that his son K E Kantesh would be fielded from the Haveri segment in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, the party has currently fielded Basavaraj Bommai. Eshwarappa, nevertheless, is contesting as a rebel Independent candidate against BJP MP B Y Raghavendra in Shivamogga. The BJP subsequently suspended him from the party for six years.

With the Assembly elections fast approaching, many Hindu activists started demanding a ticket for Harsha’s family. “None in our family wanted to contest in any elections. This demand continued and the local MLA misunderstood that we were eager to jump into the political fray. From then on we were tormented and isolated,” Ashwini recalls.

“To this day, you can see Harsha’s photo in every part of the state but not in Shivamogga town. Amid growing apprehension that I might contest in the elections, some local Sangh workers associated with Eshwarappa used to visit my house and threaten to kill me if I did not leave the town. We went through a lot during that period,” she says.

“Now, nobody knows whether we exist. We were isolated and no events were allowed to be organised in my brother’s name. We stayed quiet as at the end of the day, I too have to manage a family,” she adds.

Ashwini says she travels through Muslim-dominated areas on her way to drop her child at school, but she has not faced any harm so far. “It is just that Eshwarappa was afraid that any political aspiration in our family would affect his prospects. Even now, you can see youths observing Harsha’s birth and death anniversary in many parts of Karnataka except Shivamogga town,” she points out.

Asked if Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra is in touch with the family, Ashwini says that he has maintained the same rapport from day one. “If we need some help, we call him and he helps us.”