Lankesh Patrike

Lankesh Patrike is an Indian vernacular weekly published in Kannada language from Bangalore, Karnataka.

This weekly newspaper was started on the lines of ‘Harijan- a newspaper published by Mahatma Gandhi’ by P Lankesh in 1980. The weekly to this day remains true to its principles and has never published a single advertisement or generated any ad revenue; surviving these last 37 years on subscription from its readers.

The weekly aimed to be a platform for the Oppressed, Dalits, Women and Marginalized sections of society. It popularized a brand of journalism that grew to be the voice of these sections playing an important role in the Raitara Chaluvali – or Farmers Agitation, Dalit movement and Gokak movement started by the Founder P Lankesh. He led the newspaper from 1980 – 2000 until his death. It is still recognized to this day for its true secular outlook. The weekly at its peak enjoyed a readership of 2.5 million with a circulation of 4.5 lakhs.

Lankesh Patrike introduced a number of new writers to the Kannada literary scene. Some of them, like B.T. Lalita Naik, Vaidehi B.M.Rasheed, Sara Abubakkar and Banu Mushtaq, later went on to win accolades as writers.

A writer himself, P Lankesh was the editor of Lankesh Patrike from 1980 until his death in 2000. He won the Kannada Sahitya Academy award and is the only Kannada director to win a Swarna Kamal award till date.

Lankesh quit his job as an Assistant Professor in English at Bangalore University in 1980 and started Lankesh Patrike, the first Kannada tabloid, which went on to have an enormous impact on Kannada culture and politics.

A staunch socialist and Lohiaite he was known for his secular, anti-caste and anti-Hindutva views. Before starting Lankesh Patrike, he along with his socialist friends Ramdass and Tejaswi, had toured the length and breadth of Karnataka, mobilizing people to vote for their new socialist party. This trip, he recounted in one of his editorials, which took him to the remotest parts of Karnataka opened his eyes to the plight of the poor, the Dalits and the Muslims and made him realize his responsibility as a writer and an intellectual towards the society.

The weekly followed this as its mission and continues to fight for the Oppressed class, Dalits and Muslims with a firm focus on secularism in these challenging times under his son Indrajit Lankesh who is associated with this paper for 25 years now.

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Wikipedia