Gauri Lankesh did her job so well, govt was afraid of her: Danish A

Bengaluru

“We need to talk about the state of journalism in the country right now. Gauri Lankesh was a journalist, and she did her job so well that the gov- ernment was afraid of her. They thought the only way to silence her voice was by killing her”, said Danish Ali, Joint Secretary of the All India Students Association (AISA), JNUSU, at the ‘Gauri Day as Gen Z Day’ event organised by the Gauri Memorial Trust in Benga luru on Sunday. The event featured Aishe Ghosh, National Joint Secretary of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and Ashutosh Ranka, National Spokesperson and Co-convener of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), along with several student activists from Karnataka.

Addressing the gathering, Danish spoke about Gauri Lankesh’s commitment to journalism and her refusal to compromise on her principles. “Gauri Lankesh could neither be bought nor made to compromise on her values, and that is why she was assassinated,” she said, emphasising the need to support journalists like Lankesh. “If you turn on your televisions, all you can see are mainstream news channels trying 24/7 to promote a culture of hate and violence”, Danish said, calling on people to challenge what she described as ‘Godi Media’ and to strengthen independent media and journalism.

She also stressed the need to push the government to implement the Rohith Act, citing the numerous deaths and instances of violence reported on cam puses across the country, alleging that students were facing constant violence by the ‘BJP Goons’. “It is very important for us to be organised at this moment because of the kind of attacks we are seeing, particularly the at tacks on campus democracy. The only way forward is to unite all progressive people”, Aishe Ghosh told News Trail, speaking about the need to strengthen student politics and activism.

Ghosh also questioned why young people who are allowed to vote at the age of 18 should not have a say in campus democracy. “If an 18-year-old is allowed to vote in this country, why are they not allowed to have campus democracy? First, we should talk about basic issues such as our educa tional infrastructure, rights and the improvement of academic quality. That is how we can expand the space for campus democracy”, she said.

Speaking to News Trail, Ashutosh Ranka said the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign and the protest at Jantar Mantar were aimed at bringing greater ac- countability to the education system. “The government has to fear consequences. The principal, teachers, officers in charge and district education officers, all the way up to the Education Minister, have to be account able to the people of this country”, he said, adding that authorities must take responsibility for improving government schools and the quality of education. Ranka also appreciated CJP members in Karnataka for visiting schools as part of the campaign and said he looked forward to visiting some of the schools himself.