In Karnataka, the national crush Rashmika Mandana, the Coorg-born actress belonging to the micro-minority, Codavas has today become the rallying point for this community that sees a threat to her from a Congress MLA for refusing to attend the Bengaluru International Film festival recently as symbolic of the oppression of the majority Kannada community let loose on them.
NU Nachappa, Chairperson of the Codava National Council, on Monday urged the state government to provide adequate security to Rashmika Mandana, a proud Coorgi from the Codava community who made it very big on the national film circuit and was the pride of the Kodava community, because of the threat she now faces from the Congress party MLA and other leaders. They had issued threats against her and vowed to “teach her a lesson” for her alleged refusal to participate in the film festival that the Karnataka government had organised a few days back.
Even Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar had expressed his dissatisfaction against many actors hailing from Karnataka for giving the festival a miss and had publicly issued a warning saying that they knew how to handle such people, Nachappa told The Statesman..
Nachappa said that the Codava council will move the National Women’s Commission and also the International Women’s Body to seek justice for the film actress who has made a huge name for herself. He said that he has sent a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking adequate security for Rashimka Mandana as she faces threats from some important and powerful quarters.
The Codava National Council urged the Karnataka and Union governments to provide adequate security to Rashmika Mandana, who hails from the Codava Community of Kodagu (Coorg). The actress is being intimidated and bullied by a ruling legislator from Karnataka, Nachappa said, and wrote a letter to the Union Home Minister and Karnataka Home minister seeking protection to her. She has every right to make her own choices, the Codava leader said in conversation with The Statesman.
He also alleged that Rashmika was being harassed solely because of her ethnic background.
But the one statement that has triggered the Codava community up in arms came from Congress MLA Ravi Kumar Gariga, who singled out Rashmika Mandana for “refusing” to honour an invite that was delivered to her in person. According to the Congress MLA, the actress had dismissed the invite, saying that she lived in Hyderabad and had nothing to do with Karnataka.
Nachappa, the Codava National Council chairman, said on Monday that ”she is being dragged into politics unnecessarily”.
“I urge the Karnataka government, on behalf of the community, to provide security to Rashmika, as there might be protests targeting her when she visits home. He expressed the fear that no less a person than DK Shivakumar had expressed his ire against the celebrities from Karnataka, and there could be “attempts to teach her a lesson”.
”The majority Kannada language state of Karnataka is bullying us, a micro minority community of Codavas, a martial race, which had a separate state before merging with the state in 1956,” Nachappa alleged and said that “we need protection”.
The first demand, when it came to the Rashmika Mandana case, is an apology from the Congress MLA and adequate security for the actress whenever she visited Karnataka, her home in Bengaluru or Coorg, the region she hails from, the Codava leader reiterated.