Sanjoy Ray
GUWAHATI, March 7: Bollywood is divided on political lines like never before! Be it the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or the agriculture laws, stars of the tinsel town have not shied away from taking a stand.
With elections in Assam around the corner, political parties are trying to rope in a galaxy of Bollywood stars as their star campaigners.
While the think-thank of the ruling BJP and its allies in the State is contemplating to seek services of Bollywood stars like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Kangana Ranaut and yesteryear hero Mithun Chakraborty, the opposition parties, including the Congress and other constituents of the grand alliance, too is getting in touch with celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Vishal Dadlani, Swara Bhaskar and even Tapsee Pannu, whose office in Mumbai was searched by the Income Tax department recently.
Representative of a Mumbai-based agency told The Assam Tribune that the political parties from all the poll-bound states and Union territory have enquired about the availability of stars from the tinsel town and very soon, the list could be finalised.
“The list also includes popular stand-up comedians who are a regular in popular television shows,” he said, without wishing to be named.
“Enquiries vis-à-vis the availability of celebrities from other fields, including wrestler Khali (Dalip Singh Rana), are also coming,” he said.
“Although, this is not the first time that celebrities from Bollywood would be roped in for campaign during elections, this time around, the situation however is a bit tricky keeping in view that there is a clear divide in political ideology among the members of the tinsel town as well,” he opined.
“The stars too are aware that with the growing popularity of social media, their names might get embroiled in controversy even after the polls are over, which was not the case a decade back,” he added.
The ruling BJP already has a number of stars in its folds. Be it celebrities like Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Gautam Gambhir or for that matter even Mithun Chakraborty, who joined the saffron party today.
“For the Congress and its allies or for any other political front that would be pitted against the saffron party in the ensuing elections, the choices are limited but strong. Stars like Swara Bhaskar and Tapsee Pannu do have the gift of the gab and their dissent against the present dispensation could work for the anti-BJP forces,” a Congress spokesperson said.
“The idea is not just to pull crowds but it’s also a bid to make the common people aware of the present situation. We would field the star campaigners keeping in view the profile of the voters,” he added.