#IamGauri

Journalists, authors, and eminent personalities from across the city gathered at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on September 6, at a protest meeting organised by the Press Club of India (PCI), the Press Association, and the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC). They came together to demand justice for journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was assassinated on the night of September 5 by three unidentified assailants at the entrance of her home in Bengaluru. She was the editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, a weekly Kannada tabloid.

During a series of speeches at the gathering, senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, reflecting on the increasing number of murders and attacks on media persons in recent years, said, “We are seeing the space for free-thinking shrinking. They want to silence people who hold truth to power. We cannot remain silent because that is what they want.” Speaking about the assassination of the fearless journalist who always stood against corruption, Barkha Dutt said, “Today, if we remain silent, I think we are doing a disservice to our profession and to the reason we became journalists. In some way, we have failed previously in not standing as one. I would say after this assassination, we should not ignore anything. Do not ignore threats, abuse, or intimidation. Report, and stand up with each other and for each other. Let us stand as one. Silence is complicity.”

Independent journalist Neha Dixit highlighted the gendered nature of the attack: “Why was a woman journalist like Gauri Lankesh particularly targeted? Many trolls on social media target male journalists, calling them corrupt, but when women are targeted, it is often trivialised as something personal or sexual. How is that justified, and how much do the politically empowered want to undermine women who are critical of them?” She added, “This kind of grievous act will not stop us. We will continue what Gauri was doing, even more efficiently.”

T.K. Raja Lakshmi, Vice President of IWPC, said, “This was not a random incident. It was not isolated. It was, and continues to be, a battle of ideas. Gauri stood for secularism, democracy, inquisitiveness, and against casteism. She fought the people who opposed these values. Today, whether the left or the right dominates, we cannot ignore this struggle. It must continue.”

Yogendra Yadav observed, “Gauri was not just a journalist but an ideology. Ideologies cannot be killed by anyone. They are only challenged by other ideologies, and now we must determine which ideology sought to silence her.”

Senior journalist Ravish Kumar expressed disappointment, stating, “I’m disappointed that the Prime Minister follows people who referred to a person who just died as ‘kuttiya.’ If we have to continuously gather here for obituaries, it will be a defeat for us as journalists.”

Journalist Mrinal Pande, speaking about the fearless daughter of the renowned writer P. Lankesh, said, “It’s easy in India to sentimentalise issues involving women. This incident needs to be viewed objectively. As journalists, we need to unite and stand together, crossing all lines of gender, language, regionalism, and ideology. We must focus on the foundational principles of our profession.”

Former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar said, “It is a difficult era for journalists, RTI activists, and environmentalists. There is a pattern: perpetrators want to send a message that if they kill powerful people like Gauri Lankesh, they can harm anyone. Will nationalists be murdered for their ideology? Does being a Maoist justify being killed? If something illegal happens, the law will take its course. But people cannot be killed in the name of ideology.”

More than 200 protesters—including journalists, writers, activists, and citizens from other walks of life—attended the meeting. Placards at the protest read: ‘India Against Hatred,’ ‘I Am Gauri,’ ‘Bullets Are Their Only Answers to IDEAS. Who Is Next?,’ and ‘You Can’t Silence Someone with Bullets.’

This incident brings renewed focus on the gruesome murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, Prof. M.M. Kalburgi, Tarun Mishra, Rajdeo Ranjan, Indradev Yadav, and Jagendra Singh. As P. Sainath noted, “Journalism as well as journalists are in danger when there is a failure to stand up for India’s press.”

Since 1992, when the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began keeping records, over 40 journalists have been killed in India, 27 of them in direct retaliation for their work. There have been no convictions so far. The CPJ is still investigating an additional 25 cases to determine whether the journalists were killed for their work. India ranks 13th on CPJ’s latest Impunity Index. In May 2017, Reporters Without Borders released its Press Freedom Index, ranking 180 countries according to press freedom. Slipping three positions from the previous year, India stands at 136th.