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When you ask Prakash Javadekar, BJPspokesman, about television actor Gajendra Chauhan joining the party, his first reaction is: Who is he? Clearly, either he has missed the cheesy sight of two has-beens, star papa Suresh Oberoi and Chauhan, flashing the victory sign to the assembled media in the presence of party President M. Venkaiah Naidu. Or he was, like much of the nation, underwhelmed by BJP’s desperate search for stardust.
For in quick succession, the party has inducted Bollywood’s ultimate“Dream Girl”Hema Malini,TV’s wicked mum Sudha Chandran, Oberoi, Chauhan, KyunkiSaasBhiKabhiBahuThi’s good bahu Prachi Shah, professional North-easterner Bhupen Hazarika and even Jumping Jack Flash Jeetendra, who is so reluctant to acknowledge his entry into BJPthat he insists he will campaign for friend Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party and Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.“But if they have formally inducted me into BJP, I don’t want to contradict them,” says a wanting-to-please-them-all Jeetendra.
In this star parade, the only sight worse than a blushing Hema Malini speaking Hindi like Sridevi’s caricature in MaliniIyer is Shah’s mistaken belief that the cadre-based party is kind of a SPIC-MACAY.“I’d like to be a mascot and use the party to spread cultural awareness,” says the 23-year-old, while training for a kathak performance in Agra.
The brainchild of Venkaiah Naidu and BJPGeneral Secretary Pramod Mahajan, the wish-upon-a-star campaign is meant to sprinkle some confetti on BJP. The stars are canny enough to realise it. Listen to Malini. As the gravity-defying 55-year-old puts on her make-up in the green room and the musicians tune their instruments outside in preparation for her impending performance in Mumbai, it is clear she has come a long way from the days of her “Ask Mummy” replies.“My first public speech was written by my mother. I just mugged up the lines and delivered them. But now I know the formula— first, you talk about the party and its achievements, then about the party leadership. After that, you have to read out the manifesto of the local leader and tell the people that he or she will fulfil all promises made. In the end comes the Sholay line, ‘ Chaldhanno teriizzatkasawalhai/ BJP ko votededomeriizzatkasawalhai,’” says Malini.
INDIATODAY, MARCH 15, 2004