Outrage over slaying of journalist
Protests erupt in major Indian cities
THE KILLING of a prominent journalist and government critic outside her home in Bangalore prompted protests in major Indian cities on Wednesday and a national uproar about the shrinking space for free speech in the world’s most populous democracy.
Gauri Lankesh, 55, was shot in the head and chest on Tuesday on her doorstep by motorcycle-riding gunmen. Police have said it is too early to comment on a possible motive for the killing.
The activist was given a state funeral in Bangalore, where her body was displayed in a glass case adorned with marigolds.
Activists gathered at the Press Club in New Delhi and in cities across India holding signs that read “#IamGauri” and “Who is next?” They shouted the slogan: “May Gauri Lankesh remain immortal.”
The murder was condemned by organisations such as Amnesty International. The US Embassy in India said: “The US Mission in India joins advocates of press freedom in India and worldwide in condemning the murder of respected journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore. We offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Lankesh.”
Her death is widely being attributed to her work as a journalist and activist. “They want us to be intimidated,” Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, former editor of academic journal Economic and Political Weekly told the press club. “I hope that a thousand Gauri Lankeshs will be born and will rise among us.”
Lankesh was a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the rising far-right Hindu nationalism associated with his party. Her death is reminiscent of a string of recent killings that targeted leftist academics and scholars, activists said.
They compared Lankesh with Malleshappa Kalburgi and Narendra Dabholkar, both noted rationalist thinkers who were killed recently.
Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of the online news portal, The Wire, said: “I think there should be no doubt in our mind that she has been killed because of her work as a journalist.” He said the police failed to properly investigate the deaths of Kalburgi and Dabholkar and that the failure encouraged those who killed Lankesh.
According to the World Press Freedom Index, India has fallen three points this year, ranking 136 out of 180 countries. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 27 journalists have been murdered since 1992.
Lankesh’s killing is the most high profile in recent years. She edited a popular regional tabloid, the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, known for its irreverence toward politicians and its coverage of issues that affected the most marginalised sections of society.
“She was very respected and well-known,” said Ramesh Aroli, who teaches journalism at Kamala Nehru College at the University of Delhi and who is writing a doctoral thesis on Lankesh Patrike. “People used to call her office to complain about corrupt politicians.”
Lankesh Patrike was started by Gauri’s father, P Lankesh, a poet and literary giant in Karnataka. When it first came out in the 1980s, the publication dramatically altered the regional media scene, poking fun at politicians and spotlighting issues that mattered to the rural and semi-urban populations of the state, rather than catering to city dwellers.
Lankesh inherited the paper in 2000 when her father died. But differences with her brother resulted in a split, and in 2005 Lankesh started her own publication. This week’s issue carried a cover story about a former chief minister of Karnataka, BS Yeddyurappa, previously arrested in a graft scandal, with a headline, “Once again, the fear of jail”. Lankesh’s recalcitrant stories had sparked death threats and abuse on social media and over the phone.