Mumbai: Students, activists mark Gauri Lankesh’s first death anniversary with protest, slogans

Members of the Aam Aadmi Party, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Bigul Mazdoor Sangh, Students Islamic Organisation, IIT-Bombay and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research took part in the protest.

At the Dadar protest on Wednesday. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

On the first anniversary of the murder of the journalist Gauri Lankesh, various student, civil society and political organisations organised a protest in Dadar against what they said was the muzzling of dissenting voices by the government. “We sat together on Saturday and decided to hold the protest on Wednesday. It made perfect sense as it is one year since Gauri was killed,” said Dolphy D’Souza of Police Reforms Watch.

Close to a hundred people gathered outside Dadar (East) Railway Station at 5 pm and raised slogans against the arrests of 10 lawyers, professors and activists by the Maharashtra Police since June, apart from the killings of Lankesh, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, scholar M M Kalburgi and CPI leader Govind Pansare.

Virginia Saldanha, Chairperson of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement, said the central government was trying to distract people from real issues. “Democratic rights are under threat. The government is undermining diverse identities, especially of tribals and Dalits. We have to speak up and defend our democracy. The government is very blatant in undermining democracy. We have to be vigilant and understand what is happening,” she said.

The protesters also accused the government of politicising the arrests. “Innocent people have been arrested while Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, who are responsible for the violence after Bhima Koregaon, are walking free,” claimed Fahad Ahmad, a student at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Members of the Aam Aadmi Party, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Bigul Mazdoor Sangh, Students Islamic Organisation, IIT-Bombay and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research took part in the protest.

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