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Actor Prakash Raj (known as Prakash Rai in Karnataka) has categorically denied any plans to join any political party. However, he will campaign against a political party in the forthcoming Assembly election in Karnataka.
Speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Mangaluru Press Club on Wednesday, Raj said neither will he favour any political party nor will he participate in any political rally.
“At this point of time I am against a political party, which I feel is dangerous to this country. I am totally disturbed by the communal politics of the BJP and the way it has disturbed the fabric of the country. I am against this,” he said.
Stating that there is an atmosphere of fear, he said his driver was questioned by a few people on his (Raj’s) movements in Mangaluru before he landed at the airport here on Tuesday night. Those people left the scene once the police reached the spot. He said that if a person like him can face such issues, one can imagine the situation of a common man.
Power to question
Stressing on the need to have the power to question, Raj said whichever party assumes power — be it the BJP, the Congress or the Left parties — should not impose its ideologies on people. The party concerned should govern.
Asked if he is anti-establishment, Raj said: “You should be a pressure point. You should tell the establishment that there is somebody to question you if you go wrong.”
His ‘Just Asking’ campaign is aimed at bringing together like-minded people on the need to question certain things. Today, a person who questions gets isolated in the system, he said.
Raj said he started thinking more intensively on the ‘Just Asking’ campaign after the murder of Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.
Highlighting the need to develop political awareness among people, he said it will help strengthen people and create a people’s movement that helps in governance.
On the acquittal of the accused in the 2009 Mangaluru pub attack case, he wondered why the present government is not questioning that now. “We should ask the Congress why are they not giving us confidence in this matter,” he said, adding that such issues should not be looked from a political angle.
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