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Why actor Mohanlal cannot become politician Mohanlal

Actor Mohanlal has reiterated that he will not enter politics, and the pressure to stay away appears to have come from an unusual source — his fan associations.   

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Bengaluru: Is southern superstar Mohanlal set to contest the Lok Sabha election from Kerala this year? The answer, for now, is a firm “no”.

Mohanlal emphatically laid all rumours to rest, insisting that his audience and movies are his first priority.

“Politics is not my cup of tea. I always want to remain an actor,” the actor told The Times of India last week. “In politics, a lot of people depend on you and it’s not easy. Also, it’s not a subject that I know a lot about and so, I have no inclination whatsoever.”

Mohanlal’s remarks come amid intense speculation that the actor would contest elections on a BJP ticket. But they also come in the wake of pressure from his fan associations, which had threatened to boycott his movies if he joined the BJP.

Vimal Kumar, the president of the Kerala Mohanlal Fans and Cultural Welfare Association, one of the largest such bodies, had declared that there would be statewide protests if the actor took the political plunge.

“He has so many other responsibilities but not in politics,” Kumar told ThePrint. “The Mohanlal fans associations feel he is a misfit in politics. We believe that political parties are using his name to add glamour to their organisations.”

Unnikrishnan of the All Kerala Mohanlal Fans Club said the star, fondly known as Lal-ettan (ettan means brother), had assured them that he won’t enter politics.

“We had a discussion with him and he assured us that he is not entering politics,” Unnikrishnan said. “We love his work and we expect him to give us more and more. The fans association respect him immensely for considering our viewpoint on his joining politics.”

Senior film critic Sreedharan Pillai told ThePrint that Mohanlal’s career would take a battering if he joins the BJP.

“In Kerala, he (Mohanlal) cannot afford to be associated with the BJP because if he does, his film career will be gone. His fans are spread across the state but over 50 to 60 per cent of them belong to the Malabar and Travancore regions, which are predominantly Muslim,” Pillai explained.

“The moment he joins the BJP or shows his allegiance to them, his film career will be finished. I don’t see him entering politics.”

Not the first clarification

Mohanlal has had to clarify for the umpteenth time that he has no political ambitions but much of the speculation is driven by BJP leaders in the state and his own actions, particularly on social media.

On 1 February, O. Rajagopal, the BJP’s only legislator in Kerala, told NDTV that the party had approached Mohanlal to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Thiruvananthapuram, his hometown. The sitting MP here is the Congress’ Shashi Tharoor.

Before Rajagopal, state BJP chief P.S. Sridharan Pillai had stated that the party would be inducting big names including a “highly decorated” actor.

The remarks came in the wake of Mohanlal tweeting a photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mohanlal had called on the PM to invite him to an event that was to be hosted by the Vishwa Santhi Foundation, a charity organisation that he runs.

Mohanlal later told the media that he had briefed the prime minister on his charitable work and that he had invited him to participate in the World Malayalee Roundtable.

It also didn’t help that Mohanlal was conferred the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, this time, for his contribution to cinema. He had received the Padma Shri in 2001 but the timing of the second Padma award raised eyebrows once again.

Mohanlal himself doesn’t help his case, and if his blog, ‘thecompleteactor’, is anything to go by, he has been a politician in the making for a long time now. His blog posts contain his thoughts on issues of ‘national interest’, one of which was on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row. Many of his fans believe that the writings on his blog are Right-leaning but he has never publicly spoken about his political preferences.

The latest round of rumours, however, appear to be fuelled by the BJP’s travails with the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.

BJP sources said party leaders discussed whether to ask Mohanlal to contest against Tharoor from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. But now, they add, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member nominated from Karnataka, may be pitted against Tharoor.

In another interview to Manorama Online, Mohanlal reiterated that he wanted to concentrate on his upcoming movie, Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, being directed by Priyadarshan.

“Political parties usually do pitch names of people who they may consider as candidates for their party, but that does not mean that the person who they have named would be the candidate,” he told Manorama. “It is up to the individual to finally take the decision whether he/she wants to contest.”


Also read: Mohanlal, politician par excellence on screen, could be BJP’s poster boy in Kerala


The BJP’s Kerala gameplan

The BJP is trying hard to make inroads into Kerala. Prime Minister Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah have made several visits to the state in an attempt to woo voters.

Sources in the BJP said that Shah has tasked the state unit to ensure at least two to three Lok Sabha seats in the state. One of the party’s strategies was fielding bigwigs such as Mohanlal and Sitharaman.

“This time there is no stigma for the BJP and the conditions are just right for the party,” state unit chief Pillai told ThePrint. “We will be contesting in at least 15 seats and expect to win a good number of them.”

In the previous Lok Sabha election, the BJP’s O. Rajagopal lost to Tharoor by 14,501 votes, earning the party plaudits for finishing second in a prestigious seat. The party is banking on the Sabarimala issue working in its favour this time around.


Also read: Sabarimala priest consulted me before threatening to close temple for women: Kerala BJP chief


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