Killed by a Hindutva-linked network after exposing hate, violence and radical nationalist names. da Barbara Bonanno BNNRRB
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Gauri Lankesh was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, on 29 January 1962, daughter of the well-known writer and journalist P. Lankesh, founder of the Kannada weekly Lankesh Patrike. She grew up in a strongly secular and progressive intellectual environment shaped by literature, political debate and independent journalism. She studied journalism and began working as a reporter for national publications, including The Times of India, before returning to Bengaluru to collaborate with her father’s newspaper. After P. Lankesh’s death in 2000, she took over editorial responsibilities and later founded her own weekly, Gauri Lankesh Patrike, maintaining an independent, secular editorial line openly critical of Hindu nationalist politics and sectarian extremism. She was not only a journalist but a public intellectual engaged in civic life: she defended the Indian Constitution, minority rights, and the rights of marginalized communities; she supported dialogue aimed at social reintegration of insurgent groups; and she consistently exposed hate campaigns, disinformation networks and radicalization. She was known for her explicit criticism of the ideology of Hindutva and for publicly challenging organizations and individuals associated with extremist nationalist movements. In 2016 she was convicted of defamation in a case brought by political figures aligned with nationalist parties, but the sentence was suspended pending appeal. For years she had received threats. On the evening of 5 September 2017, while returning to her home in Bengaluru, she was shot multiple times at close range by assailants on a motorcycle. She died at the scene. Subsequent investigations led to the arrest of several suspects connected to an extremist network linked to Hindutva ideology; individuals associated with groups such as Sanatan Sanstha and related circles emerged in the investigation. Authorities also examined links between her assassination and the killings of other Indian rationalists and secular intellectuals, including Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi. Her murder became emblematic of the growing risks faced by independent journalists and critical thinkers in India. Gauri Lankesh represented an autonomous, secular, outspoken female voice rooted in India’s democratic tradition yet in direct confrontation with sectarian and authoritarian tendencies. Her assassination was not an isolated act but a targeted attack against a journalist who used her work as an instrument of public accountability and political scrutiny. I publish this series to remember that freedom, dignity and justice are never gifts but achievements paid for by real human lives. Behind every right there are names, faces and broken histories. I publish these works to oppose the normalization of political violence and propaganda, to speak to younger generations, and to affirm that silence always serves unchecked power. This is not passive commemoration; it is active memory, a conscious choice, a form of resistance.
