Bengaluru: Kavitha (Lankesh) and I often wonder if our September 5 “Gauri Day” memorials, defiant and thought-filled ruminations in public spaces at different locales in Bengaluru have become only a ritual. Held in and around the karmabhoomi and janmabhoomi of Gauri Lankesh, faithfully conceived and put together by the band of activists, writers and leaders of people’s movements who worked with and deeply loved Gauri, each year it is the evening itself filled with rejuvenation and warmth that provides the answer.These are not events of ritualising but defiant reminders of what we all are individually and in the collective. And a speaking out on what her life, and the giving and taking of it, brutally by the perpetrators continues to mean. Gauri Lankesh, woman, political activist, journalist, daughter, sister, and a soul-sister to me, was shot dead by assassins owing allegiance to the Sanatan Sanstha, a rabid far-right supremacist group, on the night of September 5, 2017, when she was just 55. The outpouring of rage and collective grief and condemnation transcended region, language and borders as her own brand of effervescent charm and bold activism demanded. Despite hate mongers high in the chain of political patronage gloating at her martyrdom, Gauri soared above this grime and shone with those sparkling eyes and mischievous smile.The months before her killing saw an uprising that became the first gritty challenge to the RSS-BJP’s proto-fascist regime. Rohith Vemula’s death (institutional murder) occasioned by a crude withdrawal of a scholarship grant by a central university (Hyderabad Central University) to a bright Dalit student, the humiliation and exclusion from hostel and library, the iconic Velli Vada that students set up. Then came the concerted attack on students and faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) and several others. Educational autonomy, academic rigour and ideological challenge were being throttled, the University campus policed and weaponised. Public education and democratic entitlements hard fought for were being withdrawn and it was the students who were fearlessly speaking out. A discussion at the ‘Gauri Day’ memorial for journalist Gauri Lankesh, commemorated as ‘Gen Z Day’ on September 5, 2026, in Bengaluru. Photo: Teesta SetalvadRohith Vemula. Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani and so many others had raised their voices. Attending solidarity meetings for their struggle, as many of us did back then, Gauri Lankesh had declared these young men as “my (her) children.” And it was these fiery young leaders who were the pallbearers at the first such memorial remembrance at Bengaluru’s town hall, on that first anniversary of our collective loss. Jignesh Mevani, one such youth leader from Gujarat, was also physically present at her burial at the Lingayat community’s Chamrajpet burial grounds on September 6, 2017, as was as utterly broken Indira amma, her mother who left us this June (2026); along with Kavitha, her beloved sister; Esha, the daughter of her heart (just 13); and Prakash Raj, friend and more to the entire P. Lankesh family.This past September 6 (2026), however, it was the Gen Z of the Jantar Mantar July protest, who held the audience at the St Joseph’s Auditorium, spellbound. Aishe Ghosh, a post graduate student and student leader with Students Federation of India (SFI); Danish Ali, another post graduate student at JNU from All India Students Association (AISA) and presently joint secretary, JNUSU; Ashutosh Ranka, co-spokesperson of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP); and Karnataka student leaders, all vibrant speakers, including Sangeetha, the Bengaluru district convenor (AISF); Sharanya, leader (AISA); Arpitha Gracy, Bengaluru district president (SFI); Mahantesh, office secretary (AIDSO); Durgesh, state secretary (KVS), Md. Peer, state secretary (SIO); and Anil Kumar of the KRRS youth wing. The event was notable for a dominant presence of young women.V.S. Sreedhara, a professor and Deepu, a filmmaker, are among the trustees of the GMT who spearheaded this year’s event.Each speaker matched the previous one in their clarity of assertion and eloquence. If Aishe Ghosh spoke of the climate of repression in the public sphere and emphasised the need to speak up, Danish Ali declared that the younger generation was in a consistent political struggle with the present regime at the centre and this battle would continue till they reclaimed India. “We (the youth) are not friends of the people who are responsible for killing people like Gauri Lankesh!” Ali asserted in a politically intuitive statement recalling the octopus-like network of hate that had celebrated this assassination. Ghosh, who has herself faced brute violence at the hands of a masked mob (later allegedly traced to the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, ABVP) in January 2020, also reminded us that Danish Ali and many other student leader’s remained “rusticated” by JNU today and that despite this, their staunch commitment continues. JNUSU joint secretary Danish Ali, president Aditi Mishra, vice president Gopika K. Babu, general secretary Sunil Yadav, and former President Nitish Kumar were rusticated for two semesters. Both the official students union, JNUSU and AISA have condemned this action by the administration that they alleged has to do with effective protests by the student bodies against the discriminatory UGC Promotion of Equality Regulations. Aishe Ghosh and Danish Ali among others on the stage at ‘Gauri Day’ memorial for journalist Gauri Lankesh, commemorated as ‘Gen Z Day’ on September 5, 2026, in Bengaluru. Photo: Teesta SetalvadA young and visible women youth leadership with a fearless and refreshing youthful adherence to constitutional values defined this year’s Gauri Day, commemorated as ‘Gen Z Day’ by the Gauri Memorial Trust. Ranka irrepressibly declared that, “if Gauri Lankesh were with us she would have proudly declared herself a Cockroach!” The CJP co-convener held the audience in his grip as he recalled the heady days at the Jantar Mantar protest, the camaraderie between Left student groups and the newly emergent CJP, as well as the heated arguments within. Ranka said it was the inimitable recourse to political satire and humour in new forms, as Gen Z’s weapon of choice, that left the establishment totally bewildered. In an address that was both self-effacing and engaging (he acknowledged the political mastery of the previous two speakers, Aishe and Danish), Ranka appealed for a constructive minimum point programme that was ready to put aside ideological determination and demand, at least accountability and access in public education. Criticising the devious handover of schools to the ‘Ambanis and Adanis’, pledging his support to the little red book, the Indian Constitution, and ending his address with slogans “Jai Samvidhan”, “Jai Bhim” and ” Inquilab Zindabad”, Ranka lent his indirect allegiance to the battle cries for distributive and representative justice while retaining his own identity. He also said that three factors helped the movement grow: a minimum common agenda, focus on what protesters were fighting for, and collective demand for institutional accountability.Ghosh said that young people entering educational institutions after 2014 had been increasingly silenced, especially on issues involving marginalised and minority communities. “Gauri was martyred simply for speaking her mind. Today, if you stand up for marginalised communities or question state-approved viewpoints in universities, you are targeted,” she said. Pointing to a systemic failure from paper leaks to slashed mid-day meal budgets, she argued that recent student uprisings are a direct refusal to stay quiet under the guise of neutrality.Ali said that the younger generation was in a continuing political struggle with the present BJP government and this would continue until they could reclaim democratic India. She also recalled that she was a school student when Gauri Lankesh was murdered in 2017, and how the killing made her understand the cost of speaking against the growing Hindutva extremism in the county. Gauri’s killing should be remembered alongside other instances of violence and repression involving people who challenged the same brand of ideological forces. The martyrdom of rationalists Narayan Dabholkar (August 2013), Govind Pansare (February 2015), M.M. Kalburgi (August 2015) preceded the murder of Gauri Lankesh in cold blood. The national and international outcry as also the immediate police actions and arrests to some extent arrested that brand of killing and the violence though the trial still continues. A discussion at the ‘Gauri Day’ memorial for journalist Gauri Lankesh, commemorated as ‘Gen Z Day’ on September 5, 2026, in Bengaluru. Photo: Teesta SetalvadWhile much focus at last evening’s event was initially on the three speakers who have held national attention, the Gauri Memorial Trust retained its staunch commitment to the local and regional by also inviting seven leaders of local state wide student and youth movements, many of whom spoke in Kannada and also highlighted with fiery specific details how the local state government headed (since May 2023) by the Indian National Congress was also pursuing a deviant education policy of shutting down state-run public schools in their thousands and attempting handovers to private ownership. It was only the sustained bottoms up struggles by youth and student socio-political groups that have formed district level committees to resist this shut down and take-over bid that have averted the crisis somewhat, speakers elaborated with details. Each also spoke of the deep impact Gauri Lankesh had on them as individuals and the vision they held today.It was the concluding short evocative remarks of Esha Lankesh, Gauri’s niece, that quietly concluded the evening before some rigorous songs in tribute accompanied by swaying hips and cries of ‘Lal Salaam’ and ‘Jai Bhim’ broke out. (Gauri and I had often over two decades disrupted the compulsive solemnity of activist camps and gatherings all over rural Karnataka with our dancing to their songs!)In the words of Esha Lankesh:“It is nine years now since I lost her and all I can say is that I can see that her loss has been personal to so, so many here, not just me. Though it has been long years – I was 13 years old when I lost her- and a lot of things like me going to University etc were things she would have loved to be part of, I realised that a lot of us have grown up in the same time, the way Gauri would have wanted us to. And now there is a whole generation of people with the fire that she had and I wish she were here to see. She is missing out on seeing a lot of people who remind me a lot of her. And I am thankful for this programme and for all present here. Because it gives so much strength to know that there are so many people fighting for accountability, equality and justice just the way that she wanted. It’s nice to see that every year it’s not the same people who come to the programme or it would become an echo chamber. And this year it’s a whole new Generation that is giving us hope.”No wonder then that such re-visitations with contemporary relevance must continue.Teesta Setalvad is a rights activist and journalist. She is the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.