New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday welcomed film star Sunny Deol into its fold and named popular singer Hans Raj Hans as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls, adding to its star-studded, celebrity-heavy bid for re-election.
The party hopes the celebrity line-up will “distract from anti-incumbency” as well as “combine the ready-made popularity of stars along with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a multiplier effect”, said well-placed sources in the party.
On Tuesday, the party declared Hans — known especially for his singing in the Punjabi folk as well as Sufi genre — as its candidate from the North West Delhi seat, replacing Dalit leader and sitting MP Udit Raj. The singer had joined the BJP in 2016 after quitting the Congress.
Actor Deol, popularly associated with a nationalistic and jingoistic brand of Hindi cinema, joined the BJP in the national capital. The popular actor, known to have a sizeable fan base among the masses, is speculated to be the party’s candidate from Gurdaspur in Punjab. It was another actor, Vinod Khanna, who won the Gurdaspur seat in 2014 and held it till he died in April 2017.
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Flashy list
As Deol joined the party in the presence of senior leaders and Union ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, the action star said he “wanted PM Modi for the next five years”.
Hans and Deol are additions to an already glamorous list.
Just a day earlier, celebrity hair stylist Jawed Habib joined the BJP, heaping praises on PM Modi. Habib, who runs a chain of hair and beauty salons and academies in India, said from “baalon ka chowkidar”, he was now “desh ka chowkidar” (loosely translates to: Someone who took care of hair will now take care of the country).
Actor Jaya Prada, a seasoned politician in her own right, joined the BJP last month. A two-time MP from the Samajwadi Party, the actor has been fielded from Rampur against her bitter rival Azam Khan. The SP candidate’s unsavoury remarks against Prada have generated much outrage, even inviting the Election Commission’s wrath.
Meanwhile, Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan, who had joined the BJP in 2017, has been fielded from Gorakhpur, a prestigious seat for BJP and one represented by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in previous Lok Sabha elections.
Last month, Kishan had said he would contest the Lok Sabha polls and win. “BJP is a favourite of everyone and anyone can win election from anywhere in BJP,” he said.
Another Bhojpuri superstar, Dinesh Lal Yadav, popularly known as ‘Nirahua’, also joined the BJP last month, hours after meeting Adityanath. He will contest from the Azamgarh seat.
It isn’t, however, just stars from the glamour world whom the BJP is relying on, but also from the sporting arena.
Ex-cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who joined the party in March, has been fielded as its candidate from the East Delhi constituency, replacing sitting MP Mahesh Giri.
‘Winnability’
With this slew of celebrity entrants, the party hopes to achieve the twin objectives of winnability, while also deflecting anti-incumbency.
“These stars have ready-made popularity. The PM is anyway popular. If you combine the two, it can have a multiplier effect. We hope to cash in on that,” said a well-placed source in the party who did not wish to be identified.
“Winnability is an important factor. For instance, we felt Udit Raj was a weak candidate but Hans Raj Hans will be a good bet in that seat,” said the source.
“Similarly, East Delhi would have been an easy seat for AAP with Giri as a candidate. Gambhir changes the game.”
Meanwhile, the BJP also hopes the anti-incumbency narrative will pale in front of the glitz and glamour of star entrants and candidates.
“As the incumbent in the Centre and also many states, we know there is an anti-incumbency mood. However, with such tactics, we think attention can be diverted from that to an extent,” said another BJP leader also on the condition of anonymity.
“Stars help distract from the anti-incumbency sentiment, especially in their respective seats.”
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