Street artists link land struggle with Lankesh

A man dancing, dressed as a horse, a group of young men in red kurtas singing songs of rebellion and a crowd sitting amid dilapidated houses, clapping, raising slogans and lending their voice to the music -- all in the contested land of Kathputli colony.
The colony of street performers near the Shadipur Metro station has often been the venue for protests, with the residents caught in a long-standing land dispute with the DDA and a private builder.
But Wednesday's programme had a different agenda. The residents had come together to pay homage to journalist Gauri Lankesh, gunned down in Bangalore earlier this month, and to connect with her campaigns for the marginalised.

Organised by the National Federation of Indian Women NFIW), one of the oldest women's groups in the country, the meeting was attended by several activists including Annie Raja of the NFIW, Bhupendra Rawat of the Jan Sangharsh Vahini, an organisation that works for marginalised people, and All India Democratic Women's Association leader S Punyavathi.
"Lankesh raised her voice against injustice done to labourers, poor people and people like you who have been fighting for their land," said Raja, juxtaposing Lankesh's campaigns with the struggles of the people of the colony who have for years fought the authorities to retain the land where they live.

She said this was the time to tell her killers, "Tum kitni Gauri maroge, har ghar se Gauri niklegi (How many Gauris will you kill, a new Gauri will come out of every house)".

For several years now, the people of Kathputli colony have been battling the DDA, which, the resident's group leader Dileep Bhat claimed, sold the land to a private builder without consulting the residents.
He pointed out that the residents -- puppeteers, snake charmers, folk singers, dancers and others -- had been living there for over 50 years now.
"Every government has tried to remove us from our land. After the Metro was built the land price increased and they (politicians) couldn't see us here. We want DDA to make a deal with us guaranteeing us houses for each family," he said.

Sitting next to a board by the DDA that read "Kathputli colony construction project is underway. Please cooperate", the crowd cheered every time there was a call for a slogan from the speakers.
Rawat noted "Gauri's mistakes" that led to her being threatened and eventually killed by unidentified men.
"First she chose to carry her father's work in Kannada, then she chose to raise a voice for the rights of workers, and then she spoke against ultra-nationalists," he said.
"It was a message that if you speak against us, we will kill you. But we will not sit quietly," he said.