The Gauri Memorial Trust, an organisation set up to continue the legacy of journalist Gauri Lankesh, is expected to launch a new newspaper soon. The publication will have no connection to Kannada newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike, said members of the newly-launched trust.
Unknown assailants had shot Lankesh dead outside her house in Bengaluru on September 7. She was an outspoken critic of Hindutva groups and edited and published the Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She also wrote widely in the English press. The investigation into her murder is still on, but no arrests have been made.
Narasimhamurthy, the secretary of the Gauri Memorial Trust, told Scroll.in on Wednesday that the newspaper will most likely be called “Gauri Patrike”, and that they hoped to launch it on her birthday, January 29. The name has been sent to the Registrar of Newspapers of India for approval.
Gauri Lankesh’s brother Indrajit Lankesh, who is also the publisher of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, is opposed to the idea of using the family name in the new publication. “He is opposed to us using the name Lankesh in particular,” Narasimhamurthy said. “This is quite unfortunate because he does not seem to understand the values and principles that Gauri Lankesh stood for, and the larger family she built with her journalism.”
He said Indrajit Lankesh was also not interested in carrying forward the Gauri Lankesh Patrike. “Mainly because we don’t want legal hassles and opposition from him, we have decided to start a fresh newspaper,” Narasimhamurthy said.
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