Arundathi Roy, Prakash Raj remember Gauri Lankesh at her 5th death anniversary in Bengaluru

The Gauri Memorial Trust organised an event marking the 5th anniversary of the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, at Bharat Scouts and Guides Auditorium in Bengaluru. It was attended by Booker Prize winning author Arundathi Roy, actor Prakash Raj, sister of Gauri Lankesh Kavita Lankesh. Alt News co-founder Muhammed Zubair was also supposed to attend but his absence marked the event. An empty chair was kept on the dais for the recently released activist Teesta Seetalvad.

Teesta Setalvad who could not attend the event, through a video message said that she remebered Gauri Lankesh when in jail.
Teesta will be campaigning for jail reforms and jailed women in the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat. She said that there were 17 women who have been in jail for more than fourteen years who were waiting anxiously for their release on 15th August through Gujarat government’s remission policy but the government instead released convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano.

Arundathi Roy remembered Gauri Lankesh and her work, she also spoke about Teesta Seetalvad’s work of documenting the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and termed it a ‘phenomenal work’.

Speaking on various issues concerning India and Indian democracy and highlighting the current regime’s atrocities, she said, “Today a party is able to come to power without Muslim votes which essentially means disenfranchising 200 million people. Two million people in Assam may lose their citizenship. BJP has emerged as perhaps the richest political party in the world through maze of opaque instruments and can topple elected governments at will. How can we call ourselves a democracy?”

She said BJP being probably the richest political party in the world, it can buy MPs and MLAs and added in a sarcastic tone there can be an MSP- Minimum Support Price that the MPs and MLAs can fight for and be stored in an ‘Adani godowns’ instead of all the drama of being ensued with ministers switching parties.

She spoke about caste being modernised, that Adani, Ambani, and Mittal all belong to a particular caste. More than the State the discriminatory practices are at fault in the country.

The RSS has been working for the past hundred years to reach this point, are we ready for that kind of work, she questioned.
This regime will end, it has to end, it is the law of Physics, she said, and that the system is broken and everybody should be working for a new one for people who “learn to divorce hope from reason”.

Veteren actor Prakash Raj said that the Congress party is not entirely to be blamed but the people for collectively failing and putting this regime at the top.

Gauri Lankesh’s sister also addressed the audience along with other eminent personalities of Bengaluru, who said that this is not an event to remember Gauri Lankesh but an event to remember what she stood for.

Latest Indian news

Popular Stories

Latest Video