A group of people said to be associated with Bajrang Dal stopped staging of a Kannada play midway at Anavatti in Sorab taluk of Shivamogga district on Sunday night. Even as the play was going on, a group of people raised slogans and went onto the stage, leaving the actors in shock. They succeeded in ending the play abruptly and forced the audience to leave the venue.
Rangabelaku, a Shivamogga-based theatre group, was staging Jotegiruvanu Chandira, a play by well-known writer and lyricist Jayant Kaikini at Veerashaiva Kalyana Mandira in Anavatti. It is a Kannada adaptation of “Fiddler on the Roof” by Joseph Stein.
Anvatti hobli units of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Karnataka Janapada Parishat and Kannada Samskruthika Vedike had jointly organised the programme. The play began around 7.45 p.m. As it was going on, a group of Bajrang Dal activists led by Sridhar Achar put pressure on the organisers to stop the play, arguing that the play, featuring Muslim characters, should have not be allowed to be staged in the village.
