I’m not a fool to give back my National Awards: Prakash Raj
Last day, renowned actor Prakash Raj made it to the headlines after he hit out hard at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for maintaining silence on journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder. While speaking at the inauguration of the 11th State meet of the Democratic Youth Federation of India in Bengaluru, Prakash Raj hit out at Modi for being silent on Gauri Lankesh’s murder, and those supporters of the right wing who have been celebrating her murder on social media.
He further lashed out at the Prime Minister and the ruling government saying, “In Uttar Pradesh, we don’t know whether he’s a Chief Minister or the Poojari of a temple. You know, I have 5 national awards. I think I should give them to him. I am a renowned actor, do you (Modi) think I will not be able to detect when you are acting. At least show me some respect, considering the fact that I am an actor and I will be able to tell what is the truth and what is acting.”
This lead to speculations that Prakash Raj is planning to join the award wapsi campaign and return back his National awards. However, the actor has now come out with a statement clearing airs on the issue. In a video posted on his official social media handle, he has said,
“I’m not a fool to give back my National Awards, which have been given to me for my body of work, and which I’m very proud of. But yes, coming to the point, I would like to own up to certain things. We don’t know who has killed them, but we do know who is celebrating. I’m pained and taken aback by the celebrations of an inhuman killing, and for the very fact that I have vented out my pain and my anguish towards those people who are celebrating, I have been trolled. But if such people are being followed by the Prime Minister, and the PM is not taking a stand on them and not commenting on them, as a citizen of this country, I am disturbed, hurt and afraid by his silence. I am talking to my Prime Minister, and I say your silence is chilling. I have a right to say this.”
Prakash Raj is a famous actor who has done numerous films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages. He has won five National Awards for films across these industries in his long career.
