Bengaluru: Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her residence here on Monday, was a journalist-activist, known for her anti-establishment, pro-poor and pro-Dalit stand.
Among very few woman editors in Kannada journalism, she was a fierce activist, who openly expressed her anti-Hindutva, pro-Naxal and Leftist views.
Born in 1962, Gauri was the daughter of P. Lankesh, legendary Kannada journalist and founding editor of Kannada weekly tabloid 'Lankesh Patrike'.
Her siblings – Kavitha and Indrajit Lankesh – are film and theater personalities.
Gauri started her own Kannada tabloid 'Gauri Lankesh Patrike' in 2005 after quitting as editor of Lankesh Patrike following differences with her brother and paper's proprietor and publisher Indrajit.
She was convicted by a magisterial court in Hubballi last year in connection with a defamation case filed by BJP MP Pralhad Joshi and party office-bearer Umesh Doshi who had objected to publication of a report against them in her periodical on January 23, 2008.
A fierce critic of the Hindutva brand of politics, Gauri had hailed the secular spirit of neighboring state Kerala in a Facebook post hours before her death. She shared a video posted by Congress leader and MP, Shashi Tharoor, in which a group of Christian nuns are seen playing Thiruvathira dance as part of Onam celebrations.
"This is the reason why they call their 'country' (i call it country, did you notice cheddis??) as 'Gods own country'. please, my mallu friends, please keep up your spirit of secularism (sic),” she wrote on Facebook.
Gauri had in the past worked for the rehabilitation of Naxals who wanted to to return to the social mainstream and was one among those involved in the founding of Citizens Initiative for Peace (CiP) in the state.
(With inputs from agencies)
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