Bid to bag celebrity support backfires on rival candidates in Thrissur
V.S. Sunil Kumar withdraws pictures of himself with actor Tovino Thomas from his campaign page following the latter’s objection; Suresh Gopi accused of trying to induce Kathakali maestro Kalamandalam Gopi to endorse him
Celebrity endorsements seem to be a soughtafter commodity for politicians contesting the Lok Sabha elections this season.
However, the alleged quest of two rival candidates to harness star power to gain increased visibility, tap into fans’ emotional connection with their icons, access different demographics, and stoke heightened media interest in their campaigns appear to have run into strong headwinds at least in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. For one, V.S. Sunil Kumar, former Minister and Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate from the segment, had to withdraw pictures of himself with actor Tovino Thomas from his social media campaign page. Mr. Thomas objected to using his image to sway voter preference in favour of any particular candidate.
‘Envoy of SVEEP’
In a social media post, the actor said he was a Chief Election Commission (CEC) envoy for the Central Election Commission’s Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation
Programme (SVEEP) in the State. Hence, using his name or photograph for campaign purposes was illegal.
Actor and politician Suresh Gopi, the BJP candidate in the constituency, was mired in a comparable predicament. His rivals accused him of attempting to tap into the local electorate’s deep love for temple arts by trying to induce veteran Kathakali exponent Kalamandalam Gopi into endorsing him. The BJP arguably found itself in a tight spot after Mr. Kalamandalam Gopi’s son claimed that his father had rejected a request to receive the actorturnedpolitician at a madefortelevision event at home in return for a Padma Bhushan award. He later deleted the post. Mr. Gopi later stated he deeply venerated great teachers and aspired to meet them, irrespective of politics. “If great teachers do not wish to meet me, I will pray before Lord Guruvayurappan, the
Kalamandalam Gopi’s son claims his father rejected a request to receive Suresh Gopi in return for a Padma award.
greatest teacher teachers.”
CPI(M)’s criticism
of all
CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan attacked the BJP for “using threats and inducements to armtwist celebrities” to endorse its candidates. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby said there was “no artistic equivalency between stars of slugfest movies and classical artistes such as Gopi Asan.” The controversies have raised the question of if celebrity endorsements would eclipse political discourse and force pressing issues to take a back seat to the cult of personality.