BENGALURU: The Right to Speak Convention — marking the first death anniversary of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh — saw the relaunch of her weekly tabloid ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’ as ‘Nyaya Patha’, with a special issue story titled Gauri Maruhuttu (Gauri Rebirth) released at the event.
Pens with Gauri’s picture and her signature printed on it, were released. Writer Chandrashekhar Patil said he would start writing his weekly column again for ‘Nyaya Patha.’
He rendered a poem that reiterated the importance of questioning.
“The pen is our weapon. This is not ink here, but our blood, our lifeline in it,” he said.
"Whenever rights are taken away from individuals, we should deal with it with the pen and by extension, writing," he said.
The atmosphere was charged with sloganeering by Gauri’s supporters, who shouted, “Naanu Gauri, naavella Gauri”, “Gauri Lankesh amar rahe”, etc.
In a Q&A session with Teesta Setalvad, Gauri’s sister Kavitha Lankesh, said on stage, “We knew from the beginning that it was right-wing organisations which killed her but now the probe has revealed that organisations like Hindu Jagruthi Samithi were involved. Also, members of Sri Rama Sene used to visit there,” she said without going into more specifics.
About the arrests of activists, she said, if all intellectuals are branded Naxals, the youth will have nobody to look up to.
Theatre personality Girish Karnad, wearing a placard that read ‘Me Too Urban Naxal’, said, “With all these nonsensical allegations against activists and their arrests, the police has proved that they will do what they want. So, here I am declaring that I am an urban Naxal too.”
Bengaluru pays tribute to slain journalist Gauri Lankesh
Gauri Lankesh death anniversary: Dangerous time for people speaking truth in India, says Amnesty
Gauri Lankesh is no more, but her words are etched in our minds: Prof VS Sreedhara
Journalist Gauri Lankesh murder: From no major leads to 14 arrests, it’s taken a year
Gait analysis helps nail Parashuram Waghmare as Gauri Lankesh killer