A Journalist's Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India
Starred review from June 17, 2024
The death of a crusading Indian journalist opens a window onto poisonous national politics in this searching debut exposé. Journalist Romig recaps the murder of Gauri Lankesh, the proprietor of a small weekly magazine in Bangalore, who was shot to death in 2017. Lankesh’s leftish, antisectarian views and inveterate muckraking meant there were many possible suspects and motives, the most likely being right-wing Hindu nationalists incensed by her harsh criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party, and by her support for Indian Muslims, disadvantaged lower castes, and others stigmatized by the BJP. Romig uses the murder and police investigation to center an intricate examination of modern-day India, with intriguing digressions into everything from controversies over the ancient origins of India’s Christian communities to the sensational 2001 case of a fast-food mogul who ordered his employees to murder a man whose wife he wanted to marry. Romig’s profile of the feisty but warmhearted Lankesh makes her the embodiment of a tolerant, progressive India that rejects prejudice and extremism, but unfortunately doesn’t seem to be winning: later chapters highlight the BJP’s intensifying efforts to silence liberal dissent and strip Muslims of rights and possibly citizenship while fomenting violence and genocidal rhetoric. The result is both a riveting true crime narrative and an insightful and ominous forecast of India’s political direction.