PM’s visit signifies Suresh Gopi’s growing clout
Known for playing police roles with flair, Gopi’s name became a sure bet for success at the box office for years
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attended the wedding ceremony of actor-turned-politician and BJP leader Suresh Gopi’s daughter Bhagya Suresh in Guruvayur of Kerala. With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the PM’s visit gains importance while putting a spotlight on Gopi’s role within the state’s political circle.
A Malayalam superstar in his own right who has starred in over 250 films and a recipient of the National Award for Best Actor in 1998, Gopi, 65, essayed character roles in the initial part of his career and turned into a prominent actor in the mid-90s through his performances as a gangster-fighting cop.
Known for playing police roles with flair, Gopi’s name became a sure bet for success at the box office for years.
He also became a regular face on Malayalam television as the host of ‘Ningalkum Aakam Kodeeshwaran’, the local version of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’, for several seasons.
Gopi in several interviews has admitted that he was a member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M) in his college days. He has also expressed admiration for late PM Indira Gandhi and late Kerala CMr and Communist stalwart EK Nayanar. In October 2016, however, Gopi joined the BJP, a party with an ideology that stands in contrast to the Congress and the CPI(M) and which has never found much success in the electoral arena of Kerala. The calling to join the BJP came months after he was surprisingly nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP in April that year in the category of eminent citizens, seen by many as a direct outcome of his close association with the party.
Gopi subsequently became central to the BJP’s programmes and campaigns in Kerala, often drawing large crowds on account of his image as an actor and stealing headlines for his philanthropic endeavours.
While he is not a member of the state BJP’s core committee or the office bearers’ group and does not attend regular meetings of the party, he is called upon, especially during election meetings to pump up the crowds, people familiar with the matter said. In 2019, Gopi contested the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket in Thrissur albeit late into the campaign and finished third behind the UDF and the LDF candidates. However, despite the failure, Gopi was able to elevate the BJP’s vote share from just 11% in 2014 to 28% in 2019.
He contested the 2021 state elections in Kerala from Thrissur but again ended up in the third position.
In the Lok Sabha elections this year, Gopi is expected to get the ticket once again from Thrissur, a seat where the BJP fancies its chances, and where he has been active for the past two years solidifying his connect with the people.In many ways, the PM’s attendance at the wedding of Gopi’s daughter has stamped his authority within the BJP and validated his rapport with Modi.
Reacting to the development, political commentator J Prabhash said, “Modi’s attendance at the wedding today does seem to be part of the larger political project of the BJP to strengthen its chances of winning Thrissur. It is a seat which the party hopes to win this time and is expected to put up a tough fight. Suresh Gopi has also been camping in the constituency for months now.”“BJP may not win but it can certainly strike a contest in Thrissur,” he said.
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