Members of a fringe group in Karnataka on Friday, protested against actor Sunny Leone’s New Year’s Eve performance in Bengaluru, The News Minute reported.
Citing that Leone’s performance would “spoil the Kannada culture,” members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Yuve Sene protested outside the event’s venue in the city, the Manyata Tech Park, by burning the actor’s posters and hitting them with broomsticks. “This is not Kannada culture,” Harish, a member of the fringe group told The News Minute. “People from other cultures are spoiling Kannada culture. The programme should not happen.”
Leone is set to perform at a private event organised by an advertising company in the city.
The pro-Kannada group member also suggested the programme feature Kannada actors wearing sarees. “Bringing people like Sunny Leone to Bengaluru will only corrupt the minds of men and women, and lead them to behave inappropriately,” Harish said. “Is it right to bring a woman, ask her to wear skimpy clothes and dance in order to make money? Are there no Kannada actors? They can ask women to wear sarees and dance gracefully.”
India Today reported that the protesters also threatened mass suicide if the event was not cancelled.
The group added that they will stage protests across 15 districts in the state. On December 7, the group had staged a similar protest on the streets of Bengaluru asking for the cancellation of the actor’s performance.