Gauri Lankesh would have turned 56 years old on Monday if she had not been shot dead by unknown assailants in September 2017.
In remembrance of the slain journalist, her family, colleagues, friends and supporters will come together at Town Hall in Bengaluru on Monday.
Politician Jignesh Mewani, Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders (JNU) Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid and Umar Khalid, who Gauri referred to as ‘her children’, actor Prakash Raj and Radhika Vemula are set to attend the event.
It will also feature an ensemble of folk, rap and classic music led by Arathi from Bengaluru, Sheetal of Kabir Kala Manch in Pune and TM Krishna from Chennai. Two books- 'I am Gauri... A Flaming Moonlight' and 'Gauri Hoovu' will also be released during the event.
Even four months after the journalist’s demise, her memory, work and fierce determination to uphold journalism continues to be celebrated by her supporters across the country.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing her death is yet to make an arrest in connection with her killing, in spite of Gauri’s death triggering nation-wide protests in September last year.
Gauri Lankesh, an activist cum journalist was shot dead at point blank range on September 5, 2017, in Bengaluru.
The Gauri Memorial Trust formed in December is organising the event. It aims to continue Gauri’s people-centric brand of journalism, representing movements of farmers, marginalised sections and labour unions among others.
Meanwhile, a plan to launch a weekly newspaper to memorialize Gauri is yet to be realised. Sources in the Gauri Memorial Trust told The Hindu that apart from the matter of funds, there is a temporary injunction order obtained by Indira Lankesh, Gauri’s mother, restraining people from starting a paper with the terms ‘Gauri’ or ‘Lankesh’.