Gauri Lankesh murder: Bengaluru sees massive protest

BENGALURU: The Karnataka capital witnessed a massive protest rally on Tuesday, where saffronclad seers, communists, social activists, journalists, students and people from various other walks of life gathered to condemn the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead on September 5 at her Bengaluru residence. Speakers included CPM secretary general Sitaram Yechury and activists Medha Patkar and Prashant Bhushan, who criticised celebratory and congratulatory messages on twitter after the murder. Speakers also said Karnataka government had to get its act together to find the killers.

“Bullets are striking India’s Constitution, India’s heart, you and me. We will not wait for you to come for us, we will all stand in front of you. Who all will you target,” asked independent filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, while Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani alleged: “The Sangh Parivar’s ideology killed Gauri. We do not know how many of us, who are here today, will be alive tomorrow.”

Activist Kavita Krishnan said that BJP MLA DN Jeevraj had said Gauri’s anti-Hindutva writings got her killed to add a poser, “will you file a defamation case against him?”

Journalist-activist P Sainath said, “there will be more killings unless we can stop them. This is the largest constructed machine of hate since Partition, with a thought-out, coherent strategy. There are moblynchings in BJP-ruled states, communal riots in non-Congress, non-BJP states and assassinations in Congress-ruled states.” Nijagunananda Swami of the Nishkalp Mantapa challenged the forces that targeted Gauri.