Rashmika Mandanna ‘disregarded Kannada’, claims Congress MLA; says actor ‘should be taught a lesson’

Congress MLA from Karnataka, Ravikumar Gowda Ganiga, claimed that actress Rashmika Mandanna had disregarded the Kannada language and should be “taught a lesson”, reported the news agency ANI. 

Speaking at a media event, Ganiga highlighted that actress Rashmika refused to attend the International Film Festival last year, which was held in Karnataka, and allegedly said that she was not aware of where Karnataka is.

“Rashmika Mandanna, who started her career with the Kannada movie Kirik Party in Karnataka, refused to attend the International Film Festival last year when we invited her. She said, 'I have my house in Hyderabad, I don't know where Karnataka is, and I don't have time. I can't come. One of our legislator friends visited her house 10-12 times to invite her, but she refused and even disregarded Kannada, despite growing up in the industry here. Shouldn't we teach them a lesson?” said the Congress MLA, reported the news agency. 

BJP Reacts

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar reacted to the Congress MLA's statement by objecting to the comments and demanding that MLA Ravikumar Gowda should respect the constitution.

“You can never separate goon from Rahul Congressman,” alleged Chandrasekhar in a social media post on the platform X.

Chandrasekhar tagged D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah and told them that every citizen of India including an actress have fundamental rights and everyone irrespective of an MLA should respect the law and rights of a person. 

“I want to tell @DKShivakumar and @siddaramaiah to read up constitution - every citizen including actress hv rights and dont forget ur goon MPA has obligations to respect law and rights of citizens,” said Chandrasekhar in the post.

Rashmika's statement about being from Hyderabad sparked a debate and started a controversy and even led pro Kannada people to start a campaign against her. These people were unhappy with the fact that Rashmika started her cinematic journey and now she is disrespectful towards the language, according to the news agency.

Other key personnel like Karnataka Rakshana Vedike President, T A Narayan Gowda also commented on the same issue and warned Rashmika over the comments.