Wednesday is the first anniversary of the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh outside her Rajarajeshwari Nagar home in Bengaluru. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing her murder has claimed to have cracked the case and found that several rationalists and prominent persons were on a ''hit list'' of the alleged killers.
As part of first death anniversary, the Gauri Memorial Trust has lined up events in the city on the day.
Here are the updates:
A ‘Freedom of Expression Meet’ is planned at the Jnana Jyothi Auditorium at Central College in the afternoon. It will see the release of a tabloid published by the Gauri Media Trust.
The family members of Gauri and other slain rationalists Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi were expected to participate in it.
Jignesh Mewani, MLA, and Kanhaiya Kumar, former student leader, will administer an oath of dissent to the gathering.
Remembering Gauri Lankesh
Swami Agnivesh during a meet on the first death anniversary of Gauri Lankesh.
Activist Swami Agnivesh, who has been the target of attacks recently, led a protest march to the Raj Bhavan. Prominent Kannada writers who were found to be on the ''hit list'' of the alleged killers of Gauri were also part of the march.
Addressing the rally, Swami Agnivesh said the same forces that killed Mahatma Gandhi had killed Gauri Lankesh.
"The killers thought they would clear the path by killing Gauri Lankesh. But it is heartening to see lakhs of Gauris take birth," he said adding the narrow Hindutva that sought to define who is a Hindu was behind the killings. "Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, Kalburgi and Gauri were all better Hindus in a true sense. The RSS has created a political majoritarian Hinduism which is being imposed. This hindutva is against the spirit of Hinduism," he said.
These are dangerous times we live in: Kavitha Lankesh
Kavitha Lankesh
Gauri's sister Kavitha Lankesh, a filmmaker, is going through a mix of emotions. On the one hand, there is relief because of the ''breakthrough'' in the investigation into the murder and on the other over news of a slew of arrests of activists across the country.
“There is a clip of Gauri saying, ‘I don’t mind being called a Naxalite. Soon, everybody will be called one,’ doing the rounds on social media. This must have been three or four years ago, but it is becoming more and more rampant now. A fascist government is arresting activists without any proper allegation. These are dangerous times we live in,” she told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Narratives are changed to silence those who raise questions: actor Prakash Raj
The killing of friend Gauri changed the world view of multilingual actor Prakash Raj in many ways. In the past year, he has raised many questions on the rising intolerance in the country, which has resulted in his often being trolled. But he continues to ask questions.
In an interview with The Hindu , he said he was worried about the increasing branding of those who question the system under tags such as “Maoist” and “urban Naxal”.
Unmasking the designs of the gang of killers
The SIT has gathered evidence that points to a larger plot involving an unnamed gang that was also allegedly behind the murders of Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare (2015), and M.M. Kalburgi (2015).
