Kannada film actress Harshika Poonacha has shared a shocking video, showing her family attacked by a mob in Bengaluru's Frazer Town for speaking in Kannada.
Poonacha shared a post on social media, sharing the details about the incident. The Kannada actress wrote that a few days ago she went out for a casual dinner at a restaurant on Mosque Road in Frazer town's Pulikeshi Nagar with her family.
Suddenly, two men appeared near their car's driver seat window and started arguing that the vehicle was very big and that it could touch them if it moved suddenly.
"My husband ignored it by saying "innu move maadilwalla side bidi" (we haven't moved at all right, please move aside now). He moved the vehicle ahead a little, and by then these two men started abusing him and my family in their language saying these Kannada people should be taught a lesson, and even tried to hit him on the face," she wrote.
Around 20-30 people gathered around her car and also tried to snatch Bhuvann Ponnannaa's gold chain.
"My husband realised this on time and quickly held on to it and gave it to me," Harshika Poonacha wrote.
"These guys had a problem that we were talking about in Kannada. They were like you're coming to our area and stop talking in languages you want. “Yeh local Kannada wala hey” (these guys are local Kannada people). It agitated them more when my hubby and I spoke only in Kannada. They said keep your ”Kannada style" to yourself. Most of them spoke either Hindi, Urdu, and a few in broken Kannada," the actress added.
Subsequently, the family called the police and the crowd disappeared.
Poonacha said the incident has scared her from going out in the city she grew up in.
The actress asked, "Are we living in PAKISTAN or AFGHANISTAN?? Is it wrong to use my language Kannada and get abused for it in my own city??? How really safe are we in our own city?”
The actress has urged Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka State Police Department to look into the matter and take appropriate action.
