'Wish You Were There': Kanhaiya, Mevani, Shehla, Khalid Remember Gauri Lankesh As They Celebrate 'Gauri Day'

The Gauri Memorial Trust in Bengaluru is celebrating January 29 as Gauri Day to mark the 56th birth anniversary of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Leaders such as MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani, former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, former vice president of the union Shehla Rashid, JNU student Umar Khalid, and student leader Richa Singh from Allahabad and actor Prakash Raj attended the programme.

Meanwhile, Kanhaiya, Rashid, Khalid and Left activist Kavita Krishnan took to Twitter to remember Lankesh.

“Today is the birthday of Gauri Akka. Amma, your memories and your love are always with us, but I wish you were also there,” tweeted Kanhaiya.

The programme began at 2 pm will include songs dedicated to Gauri, sung by Sufi singer Sumati and Hulikunte Murthy. An oath will be administered to protect the spirit of Constitution. Gauri's sister Kavitha Lankesh, Prakash Rai, media advisor to the chief minister Dinesh Amin Mattu and Doddipalya Narasimha Murthy, president of the trust, will address the gathering, reported Deccan Herald.

Besides, books titled 'Nanu Gauri', a collection of poems about the journalist-activist, and 'Gauri Hoo', essays by her and about her, will be released on the occasion.

The formal announcement of the Gauri Memorial Trust was made in December last year by the core committee members, including activist Teesta Setalvad,  writer Devanur Mahadeva, former legislator AK Subbaiah, environmentalist and activist Chukki Nanjundaswamy, among others.

The focus was to launch a paper to take forward Gauri’s ideology, conduct annual State and national-level seminars in her memory; institute an award in her name for journalists and activists working to uphold Gauri’s values and conduct orientations and offer scholarships to young journalists, reported The Hindu.

Lankesh, the editor of the “Gauri Lankesh Patrike”- a tabloid, was shot dead September 5, 2017 by unknown assailants outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru.

She was a critic of right-wing Hindu extremists. She also campaigned for the rights of women and against discrimination based on caste for which she was awarded Anna Politkovskaya Award.

After the preliminary investigations, SIT had released three sketches of suspected killers and sought public help.

Deputy chief of the SIT probing the case said that no arrest has been made in Lankesh murder case.