Gauri Lankesh

Gauri Lankesh (29 January 1962 – 5 September 2017) was an Indian activist and journalist from Bangalore, Karnataka.

She worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh, and ran her own weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

Gauri Lankesh was born in a Kannada Lingayat family on 29 January 1962.

Her father was the poet-journalist P. Lankesh, who established the Kannada-language weekly tabloid Lankesh Patrike.

She had two siblings, Kavitha and Indrajit.

Gauri started her career as a journalist with The Times of India in Bangalore.

Later, she moved to Delhi with her husband, Chidanand Rajghatta.

Shortly after, she returned to Bangalore, where she worked as a correspondent for the Sunday magazine for nine years.

At the time of her father's death in 2000, she was working for the Eenadu's Telugu television channel in Delhi.

By this time, she had spent 16 years of her life as a journalist.

When their father P. Lankesh died, Gauri and her brother Indrajit visited Mani, the publisher of Lankesh Patrike, and told him that they wanted to cease the publication.

Mani convinced them against the idea.

Gauri then became the editor of Lankesh Patrike, while her brother Indrajit handled the publication's business affairs.

Beginning in 2001, differences developed between Gauri and Indrajit over the paper's ideology.

In 2003, she opposed the Sangh Parivar's alleged attempts to Hinduise the Sufi shrine Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Dargah located at Baba Budan giri.

These differences became public in February 2005, when a report about a Naxalite attack on policemen, approved by Gauri, was published in the magazine.

On 13 February, Indrajit (who was the paper's proprietor and publisher) withdrew the report, alleging that it favored the Naxals.

On 14 February, Indrajit filed a police complaint against Gauri, accusing her of stealing a computer, printer, and scanner from the publication's office.

Gauri filed a counter-complaint, accusing Indrajit of threatening her with a revolver.

On 15 February, Indrajit held a press conference, where he accused Gauri of promoting Naxalism through the paper.

Gauri held a separate press conference where she denied the accusation and stated that her brother was opposed to her social activism.

Gauri subsequently started her own Kannada weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

Gauri was a staunch critic of right-wing Hindutva politics.

In 2012, while participating in a protest demanding a ban on communal groups in Mangalore, she stated that Hinduism was not a religion but a "system of hierarchy in society" in which "women are treated as second-class creatures".

She endorsed a minority religion tag for the Lingayat community and headed the Komu Souharda Vedike, a communal harmony platform for the oppressed communities.

She was also of the view that the followers of philosopher Basavanna were not Hindus.

Gauri was known for advocating freedom of the press.

She had written about the wrongdoings of the Indian National Congress leader, D. K. Shivakumar, a close associate of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna.

She was opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ended her 35-year-old friendship with Prakash Belawadi when the latter became a media advisor to the BJP during the 2014 Indian general election.

In November 2014, the Congress-led Karnataka government appointed Gauri as a member of a committee aimed at convincing the Naxalites to give up violence and surrender.

However, a delegation of BJP leaders accused her of being a Naxalite sympathiser and demanded her removal from the committee.

The chief minister Siddaramaiah rejected the demand.

Gauri was openly critical of the caste system.

In 2015, some Brahmins accused her of criticising the novelist S. L. Bhyrappa and Brahminism during the 81st Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (Kannada literary conference) held at Shravanabelagola.

At the conference, Gauri remarked that the non brahmin- Dalit author Perumal Murugan was criticised by right-wing Hindu groups for depicting a childless Hindu couple who indulged in consensual sex rituals outside of marriage to have children in his book One Part Woman.

She then pointed out that the Brahmin novelist S. L. Bhyrappa had also depicted the similar Niyoga practice in his novel Parva, a retelling of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

She clarified that she was supportive of both these writers, and asked why the Hindu groups who were offended by Perumal Murugan were not offended by Bhyrappa.

She was murdered outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September 2017.

At the time of her death, Gauri was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism.

She was honoured with Anna Politkovskaya Award for speaking against right-wing Hindu extremism, campaigning for women's rights and opposing caste based discrimination.