Renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered at her home in Bengaluru yesterday. An avowed critic of right-wing extremism, she frequently wrote and spoke about the perils of fanatic Hindu nationalism and caste politics. Having worked for several newspapers and publications throughout her career, she was editing ‘Lankesh Patrika', a local Karnataka tabloid.  

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Her work had earned her quite a few haters and she once said in an interview with Newslaundry, “Unfortunately, today anybody talking in support of human rights and against fake encounters is branded a Maoist supporter. Along with that, my criticism of Hindutva politics and the caste system, which is part and parcel of what is considered ‘Hindu dharma', makes my critics brand me as a ‘Hindu hater'. But I consider it my constitutional duty to continue - in my own little way - the struggle of Basavanna and Dr Ambedkar towards establishing an egalitarian society.” 

The murder is being investigated into and the identity of the culprits is not known yet. 

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As the journalist and intellectual fraternity reeled in shock and despair over the cold-blooded murder, comments poured all over social media lamenting the death of freedom of speech. This is not the first time people raising their voice against established powers and conventions have been found dead. Ram Chander Chhatrapati, the journalist who exposed the truth about rapes in the Dera arena was shot at point-blank range in 2002. 

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In 2013, Narendra Dabholkar who worked towards eradicating superstition and black magic was shot dead while he was on his morning walk. Govind Pansare, his close associate and a Communist leader, who worked towards shattering caste and class myths was also shot dead in 2015. 

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There has been a lot of talk about freedom of speech on social media. The atmosphere in the country these days is one of distrust and anger. Anyone who decides to voice an opinion that is even slightly against the established mainstream ideology gets branded as anti-national and is bashed virtually. Online trolling is like a full-time job now. The Press has been bastardized to ‘presstitudes' and dissenting opinion is translated loosely as and grouped with irresponsible journalism. Hate flows freely on the internet and off it. We seem to have lost our ability to sit down and debate on controversial issues without getting heated up. Conflicting ideologies can get you killed, it seems. 

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We don't know yet who got Gauri Lankesh killed, but we do know an important voice of India has been silenced. While India grieved over the loss of a brilliant journalist, there was sheer apathy in some:

So, Commy Gauri Lankesh has been murdered mercilessly. Your deeds always come back to haunt you, they say. Amen.#Bengaluru#GauriLankesh

The hate is nauseating and we wonder how did we get to this. 

As we try to come to terms with what happened yesterday, this quote rings loud in our ears. 

Time to read lines of Pastor Martin Niemoller on Nazi Germany and remember if we don't speak out now, it may soon be too late#GauriLankesh pic.twitter.com/mGaNqpQbMN

If being a journalist kills you, your country definitely needs more journalists. If raising your voice gets you killed, it just proves your society needs more voices to be raised.