Delhi, Sep 6: Media organisations across the country have strongly condemned the dastardly killing of Kannada journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh on Tuesday.
In a strongly-worded statement issued here, the Editor’s Guild of India said, “Gauri Lankesh was a known critic of the Central government on key issues and had fearlessly expressed her views in the newspaper she edited as well as in other forums. Her killing is an ominous portent for dissent in democracy and a brutal assault on the freedom of the press.” The statement was signed by the President of the Guild, Raj Chengappa, General Secretary Prakash Dubey and Treasurer Kalyani Shankar. The Guild has demanded a judicial probe into the matter.
The statement further goes on to say,“The Editors Guild of India demands that the Karnataka Government acts with alacrity to bring the culprits to justice apart from instituting a judicial probe into the killing,”
The Mumbai Press Club and Bombay Union of Journalists too have expressed their solidarity with the journalist community against the killing seeking a speedy probe in the case.
Gauri Lankesh, the editor of Lankesh Patrike was just about to enter her residence in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening at 8 PM when assailants fired at her. She was shot from a close range, with two bullets hitting her on the chest and one on the forehead, by two motorcycle-borne unidentified assailants. She died instantly.
Lankesh was known for her leftist views and frequently criticised Hindutava politics.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi was among the political leaders to criticize the killing. Pointing a finger at the BJP and the RSS, Rahul Gandhi said that anyone speaking against the ideology of BJP and the ideology of RSS was victimized, pressured, beaten and even killed.
“The idea is that there should only be once voice in the country,” Rahul said. He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, commenting, “Sometimes the PM speaks under pressure but the entire idea is to crush dissent and this is resulting in a very serious problem in India.”
“Narendra Modi is a skilled Hindutva politician. Unke shabdo mein 2 meanings hote hain. Unke base ke liye ek hota hai, baaki duniya ke liye alag (Modi’s words have two meanings – one for his base of supporters and the other for the rest of the world),” Gandhi said.
The Congress vice-president’s media briefing sparked an angry reaction from Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari who slammed Gandhi’s “nonsense”. There is no proof behind Gandhi’s comments and such allegations are baseless, Gadkari said, adding that PM Modi is not in the country and that it should not be expected of the prime minister to speak on every issue.
Union Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani too condemned the killing in a tweet. Irani called for speedy investigations into the incident.
(Agencies)