Not a fool to give my awards to Modi or Yogi: Prakash Raj

Bengaluru, Oct 3: Multilingual actor Prakash Raj, who has earned the wrath of saffronists by lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence over journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder, clarified on Tuesday that he would not return his national awards.

A section of media on Monday had claimed that Raj threatened to give his five national awards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A few other media reported that Raj offered his awards to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Speaking at the 11th state meet of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in Bengaluru on Monday Raj had said Yogi Adityanath is a better actor than former. “Gauri’s killers have not been caught yet. But what is more disappointing is people celebrating her murder over social media spreading hatred,” Raj said.

"In UP, we don't know whether he's a Chief Minister or the pujari of a temple. You know, I have 5 national awards. I think I should give them to him," he said.

This led to speculations whether Raj was going to return his National Award. However, the actor clarified this in video, saying, "I'm not such a fool to give back my National Award, it's something I'm very proud of.”

Clarifying Raj’s statement, Muneer Katipalla, the state president of DYFI said, “It was only a satirical comment that Prakash Raj made referring to how Adityanath was trying to act like a chief minister.”