Senior journalist Ravish Kumar, who had recently bagged the Magsaysay award, was on Sunday, 22 September, honoured with the first Gauri Lankesh Memorial Award for ‘sharp news analysis and uncompromising secular stance’ at a ceremony in Bengaluru.
The award was announced by Gauri Lankesh Memorial Trust, formed after her demise, on the occasion of Lankesh’s second death anniversary on 5 September. A selection committee comprising senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, activist Teesta Setalvad, and academic Rahamat Tarikere had chosen Kumar to receive the award.
Gauri Lankesh, a prominent activist and an outspoken journalist, was shot by an assailant in front of her house in Bengaluru on 5 September 2017.
Veteran journalist HS Doreswamy reportedly presented the award to Kumar who said that the government’s focus should be on changing the language of our “broken system” rather than trying to change the languages of the people.
“We are living in a time where [Nathuram] Godse is seen as a patriot and Gandhiji is seen as an extremist, and dissenters are made out to be enemies, anti-nationals, urban naxals, pro-Pakistanis. This shows that our country’s democracy is inching towards a slow death,” The Hindu quoted Kumar as saying.
(With inputs from The Hindu)
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