Why Gauri Lives On

A month after editor and journalist Gauri Lankesh was assassinated on her doorstep in Bengaluru, she remains alive in public memory. This is evident from the continuing protests and vigils across the country in her name. On 2 October, Gandhi Jayanti, and again on 5 October, to mark one month since her death, journalists, artists, activists, students and many others joined street protests, demanding that her killers be found and decrying the “murder of democracy.” Why has the killing of one journalist amongst several led to such a mobilisation?

Lankesh is not the only journalist to be killed. In fact, on 20 September, another journalist, Shantanu Bhowmick was stabbed to death while covering a demonstration by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) in Agartala. This year alone, eight journalists have been killed, although not all the deaths can be linked to their work. Yet, the Lankesh assassination has become some kind of inflection point. It has brought together a range of civil society groups, including journalists who are disturbed at the frightening increase in the numbers of lynchings, violent attacks and murders in the last three years by groups that are encouraged by the current political atmosphere in the country.