批评印度教民族主义的女记者遭枪杀

A prominent Indian journalist known for her outspoken criticism of rightwing Hindu nationalist politics has been shot dead outside her home in Bangalore, sending shockwaves through India’s media industry.

一名以直言不讳批评右翼印度教民族主义政治而著称的知名印度记者，在她位于班加罗尔的住所外遭枪杀。此事震动了印度整个媒体行业。

Gauri Lankesh, 55, had worked in New Delhi for leading English language newspapers and was more recently editing her own local-language weekly. She was opening her front door on Tuesday night on her return from work when she was shot in the chest and head by motorbike-riding gunmen. The assailants fled.

55岁的高里•兰凯什(Gauri Lankesh)曾在新德里为多家知名英文报纸效力，近期则担任她自己旗下的当地语言周刊的编辑。周二夜晚，她下班回家打开住所前门时，遭骑摩托车的持枪者开枪击中胸部和头部。袭击者随后逃之夭夭。

Lankesh was a co-founder of the Communal Harmony Forum. She was outspoken and highly critical about the rising tide of threats, intimidation and violence against those opposed to Hindu nationalism, or those who challenged orthodox Hindu interpretations of faith and history.

兰凯什是社群和谐论坛(Communal Harmony Forum)的联合创始人。那些反对印度教民族主义、或质疑印度教对信仰与历史的正统解读的人，遭受到越来越多的威胁、恐吓和暴力。兰凯什直言不讳地对这种现象提出了激烈的批评。

Her murder comes as the state of Karnataka — of which Bangalore is the capital — is gearing up for assembly elections next year. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party of Narendra Modi, the prime minister, is hoping to retake control of the state from the incumbent Congress government.

她遭到谋杀之际，以班加罗尔为首府的卡纳塔克邦(Karnataka)正为明年的议会选举做着准备。印度总理纳伦德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)所在的、奉行印度教民族主义的人民党(BJP)，正寄望于从该邦目前的国大党(Congress Party)政府手中夺回该邦的控制权。

Siddaramaiah, Karnataka’s chief minister, took to Twitter to denounce the killing, calling it “an assassination on democracy”.

卡纳塔克邦首席部长锡达拉马亚在Twitter上谴责了这起谋杀，称之为“一次对民主的暗杀”。

Speaking in New Delhi in March, Lankesh brought up the assassination in 2015 of MM Kalburgi, a former university professor whose interpretations of ancient religious texts had upset Hindu traditionalists. She recalled with dismay how, just after the killing, a member of the rightwing Bajrang Dal had tweeted “mock Hinduism will die a dog’s death”.

今年3月在新德里发表讲话时，兰凯什提到了2015年大学教授卡尔布尔吉(MM Kalburgi)遭暗杀一事。卡尔布尔吉对古代宗教经文的解读令印度教传统主义者感到不快。兰凯什伤心地回忆道，暗杀发生后不久，一名右翼青年民兵(Bajrang Dal)成员在Twitter上发帖称，“嘲笑印度教的会死得像条狗”。

In 2015, Lankesh told a journalist that she believed some rightwing groups operating in Karnataka had a hit-list, and that she was likely to be on it.

2015年，兰凯什告诉一名记者，她相信在卡纳塔克邦活动的一些右翼组织有一份暗杀名单，而且她本人很可能就在名单上。

The killing of journalists is not unknown in India, where 40 reporters have been murdered since 1992, according to the Committee for the Projection of Journalists.

记者被杀在印度并不罕见。保护记者委员会(CPJ)的数据显示，自1992年以来，已有40名记者在印度遭谋杀。

However, most were working in small towns, often for local publications, and took on vested interests in their communities, often over large-scale corruption.

然而，这些人中的大多数都是在小城镇工作，而且往往供职于当地刊物，挑战的是他们所在地区的既得利益集团，矛头常指向大规模的腐败。

Lankesh, however, was based in Bangalore, the heart of India’s IT industry, and had long associations with English-language publications. Her outspoken criticism of rightwing Hindu nationalism, and its adherents, was largely on ideological grounds.

而兰凯什常驻印度IT业核心城市班加罗尔，并长时间与英文刊物打交道。她对右翼印度教民族主义及其追随者的直言不讳批评，主要是基于意识形态。

Despite its constitutional right to free speech, India’s media face many intense pressures. Reporters without Borders, in its most recent index on press freedom released in April, ranked India 136 out of 180 countries, down three from 2016.

尽管拥有宪法规定的言论自由权利，但印度的媒体面临众多强大压力。在“无国界记者”(Reporters Without Borders) 4月发布的最新新闻自由指数排名中，印度列在180个国家中的第136位，比2016年滑落了3位。