Prakash Raj threatens to return National Awards

Actor Prakash Raj has threatened to return his five National Awards and condemned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

"Those who killed Gauri may or may not be traced, but that apart, there is a huge crowd out there enjoying and celebrating on social media. We all know who they are, what their ideology is. Some of those celebrating this ghastly episode are being followed by none other than Mr. Modi himself. This is what worries me, where is our country is headed to?"

He was addressing the 11th state meet of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) here.

He went on to say that he would return his awards.

"I say you keep it. I don't want the awards. Don't tell me that good days will come," he said at the event.

Raj said he was "worried about the PM's silence".

Lankesh was murdered near her Bengaluru home on September 5. Raj was a close friend of the journalist and an ardent admirer of her father, P Lankesh.

"I knew Gauri for 30 years. In a sense, we were all children of (P) Lankesh, his ideologies and way of life. I never dreamt that this day would come. We were taught to be honest citizens, who would never seize to raise one's voice. In fact, I don't think anyone voiced their opinion more than P Lankesh himself. This was how we were taught to be. It is astonishing to see where we have come to today," he said.