Kannada group to protest if Sunny Leone comes to town

Another Sunny Leone event is likely to run into trouble, with pro-Kannada activists planning to shuck off a programme scheduled to be held on November 3.

Last year, massive protests across the city had led to the scrapping of an event where the actor was supposed to perform.

A prominent member of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) said that the vedike’s Yuva Sene (young army) is against Sunny Leone performing anywhere in the state, in the interest of “protection of South Indian culture”.

“The youth of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike have been protecting the state’s language and culture for many years now. We will not allow Sunny Leone to perform anywhere in Karnataka,” he said.

However, Narayana Gowda, KRV president, said, “I have told the organisers that I don’t have any objection if prominence is given to Kannada at the event. They have promised that only Kannada songs are going to be played and sung throughout the event, which I am okay with. I am against the programme only if Kannada is degraded or neglected by any means.”

“I also heard that Kannada playback singer Raghu Dixit is going to perform some Kannada songs,” he said.

In December 2017, pro-Kannada activists had threatened to barge into a Sunny Leone event, supposed to be last New Year’s Eve, and stop it.

Sensing law and order problems, the previous Congress government had refused to give permission for the event, which was eventually scrapped.

The venue for this year is the same as last year’s — White Orchid Hotel in Manyata Tech Park located on the Outer Ring Road.