“Today, individual freedom is under unprecedented attack. It has gone beyond what it was like during the Emergency. The most dangerous manifestation of such attacks is physical elimination or assassination. Gauri is a victim of such an assault. She paid with her life for speaking the truth. The killings of Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi and now Gauri, is made to believe, was a coincidence. But no, there is a definite pattern to it,” said Siddharth Varadarajan, founder-editor of The Wire, during the launch of Gauri Memorial Trust in Bengaluru on Monday.
Three months after journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was gunned down by unidentified men near her house in Bengaluru, her friends launched a trust in her memory.
Dubbing the recent Padmavati controversy, Varadarajan noted that violent protests and the language of the fringe elements only go to show that it has the official sanction of those in power.
“This is one of the many forms of pressure tactics to silence the voices. The gag orders of the courts on day-to-day reporting of the proceedings with reference to two cases—CBI special court in Mumbai (Sohrabuddin fake encounter case) and Allahabad High Court in UP (against UP CM Yogi Adityanath)— is again a classic case of curbing freedom of speech. Misuse of defamation law to clamp down media houses which I call slap suits and misuse of cyber laws to silence critics and free speech on social media, mob rule on academic campuses are all dangerous developments. However, the biggest threat to free speech is the self censorship by media which is on the rise. There is an atmosphere of fear and all people who believe in free speech should come together through this new trust, and also exploit the social media to break the embargo of silence,” said Varadarajan.
Civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad questioned the silence of the majority over the killings of activists and 59 witnesses in Vyapam case and hoped that the Trust would fight “brute majoritarianism”. “Karnataka's Datta Peeta is the Ayodhya of the south and as co-petitioner in the case (under Komu Souharda Vedike), I demand the Karnataka government to accept and implement the expert committee report on the Datta Peeta, as promised to the Supreme Court. The trust should fight the communal agenda,” she said and questioned the wisdom of the Centre in batting for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya when the onion and potatoes have touched Rs 80 per kilo.
“Decades of people's movement brought about MNREGA, RTI, Land Acquisition Act and Forests Act to help the poor and the marginalised. But all these have been rolled back by the far right government,” alleged Setalvad, who also urged the gathering to support Jignesh Mevani, (who, Gauri considered as her son), in his electoral battle in Vadgam, Gujarat.
The 14-member Gauri Memorial Trust, comprising freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, author Devanuru Mahadeva, Setalvad, Varadarajan, academician Rahmat Tarikere, activist K. Neela and former Naxalite Noor Shridhar, hopes to relaunch the tabloid Gauri Lankesh Patrike and form an organisation to foster ethical journalism and give voice to the marginalised sections of the society.
“The tabloid will have no advertisements as it would compromise the editorial policy. This way we can continue the legacy of Lankesh (Gauri's father). It will be a collective responsibility of all the people who believe in equality and justice,” said Gauri's friend Doddipalya Narasimhamurthy, adding that the Trust would also train journalists and institute awards for journalists.
Doreswamy, who will chair the trust, expressed anguish over the power money wields in today's world. “We have to evolve a value-based society and shun money. Our newspaper believes in that transformation. To run an ethical newspaper, we need funds and if we get at least 5,000 subscribers to begin with, we can launch the publication within two months.”
Expressing their outrage over the Karnataka government's failure to bring Gauri's killers to book, the members of the trust have called for a protest march to the chief minister's house on Tuesday.
Social activist A.K. Subbaiah said, “Though we are clueless as to who killed Gauri, we know who celebrated her death. The BJP and Sangh Parivar, which are holding rallies to protest the killings of their workers, did not hold a rally demanding justice for Gauri. Most killings the Sangh Parivar is protesting against is of a rowdy killing a rowdy. I believe Gauri was killed by the same clan that killed Gandhi. But if the state government is maintaining silence on the issue, we must understand there is greater power protecting the culprits.”
