Activists, lawyers and students participated in a sit-in protest outside the Press Club of India on Wednesday to express solidarity over the murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Speaking at the event, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan said: “It is a cold-blooded murder... if these incidents continue, then civilization will be busted and there will be a spread of fascist anarchy. The same people who celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s death are now celebrating Ms. Lankesh’s death (sic).”
‘Must sustain the rage’
Student activists from Jawaharlal Nehru University also raised their voice against the brutal murder.
“This is a political assassination. We will bring down those who are celebrating this murder. We must sustain this rage and continue to raise our voices,” said Shehla Rashid. “The bullets not only killed Ms. Lankesh, but also India’s democracy,” said Umar Khalid.
Kanhaiya Kumar said: “Ms. Lankesh was like my mother. She once told me that if you are being attacked then you know that you are on the right track... powerful people are being killed just to send across a message to others. Her death is a personal loss for me.”
Calling the incident a ‘dastardly’ murder, senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said: “The Right-wing fundamentalists want us to keep quiet. It is high time that laws for defamation in India are changed. Who is the one to decide what is reasonable speech? Will it be the Chief Justice of India or the mafia who killed Ms. Lankesh?”
