Actor Prakash Raj Claims His Popular Kannada Column Was Abruptly Stopped

Bengaluru: National award winning actor Prakash Raj has alleged that his popular column in a Kannada daily has been abruptly stopped by "invisible hands."

The actor took to social media on Thursday stating “Surgical strike...my popular column in Kannada has been abruptly stopped . Dear INVISIBLE HANDS..do you think we can’t see you..#justasking (sic).”

The actor also added a note to the post on Twitter and Facebook that said “To the obviously visible INVISIBLE hands. With every act of yours.. people can see the face behind your mask clearer.. By blocking a platform where I was in conversation with my readers… do you seriously believe you can break the bond I had with them… #justasking (sic).”

The veteran actor, who has donned roles in several Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu movies, had a weekly column called “Iruvudellava Bittu” (leaving aside all other things) in the Kannada daily Udayavani. The column was widely popular in the coastal Karnataka region and was last published on December 24, 2017.

The actor has used the column to criticise the central government and right-wing outfits over various issues. Raj’s comments were particularly sharp following the death of journalist Gauri Lankesh and ranted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “His silence over his followers celebrating Gauri Lankesh’s murder was akin to an actor trying to please his followers."

In November last year, Raj had even slapped a legal notice against MP Pratap Simha and accused Union Minister Ananth Hegde of stooping too low, for their alleged derogatory statements against the actor.

Reacting to the actor's allegation, Shivasumbramanya, editor of Udayavani told News18, “It’s a routine procedure. We have a list of hundred writers, we keep changing them. We cannot have the same person write all the time. There is nothing unusual about it.”

However, he evaded the question over whether the actor was informed about the same.