Gauri’s Murder Revealed the Faces of Many Murderers: Ravish Kumar

(This article was first published on 6 September 2017, a day after journalist Gauri Lankesh was assassinated in Bengaluru. It is being republished on the occasion of her first death anniversary.)

Ravish Kumar is a journalist who does not mince his words. And he was in no mood to hold back his punches as journalists in Delhi protested against Gauri Lankesh’s murder. Speaking to The Quint at the Press Club of India on the sidelines of the protest, Kumar lashed out at those who were celebrating Lankesh’s murder on social media. The following is an excerpt from the conversation.

Ravish Rages at Those Celebrating Murder

This was one murder, but it has shown us several murderers. Check your Facebook and Twitter timelines. There are so many people justifying this murder.

Since yesterday, I have seen so many murderous people. There are more murderers than murders and their acceptance is growing.

So, Commy Gauri Lankesh has been murdered mercilessly. Your deeds always come back to haunt you, they say. Amen.#Bengaluru#GauriLankesh

— Jagrati Shukla (@JagratiShukla29) September 5, 2017

If you are doing this for some political party or ideology, what are you getting in return?

Has education got cheaper for your kids? Have your children landed jobs? Have your parents got insurance? Has healthcare improved? Why are you falling for this fraud in politics?

Don't deflect the injustice of this murder with whataboutery. In India, it is seemingly a crime for a woman to even be born. It is even tougher for her to be a journalist. But Gauri Lankesh was a fearless critic of every government in power. You have killed such a journalist.

If India does not have compassion, then what else is left? Where is our humanity? Let parents see how their children are justifying murder. Do they want their children to turn murderous to please politicians? What is the kind of political climate we have developed?

We can't we even criticise a journalist's murder without being embroiled in a Congress-BJP controversy? One person has been murdered, but look how many murderers it has thrown up.

Are we only going to gather here to pay last respects to the dead?

Whose faces are these social media trolls saving? Why have we descended to this? Is there something called humanity that matters too?

Video Editor: Sunil Goswami

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