Since the 2019 Lok Sabha election results were declared, citizens expressing their dissenting political positions have been threatened. From politicians to actors, no one has been spared by the right-wing groups. Last week, Malayalam actor, Vinayakan, made headlines as he was cyber bullied over his recent comments about the election results.
In an interview with Media One, the actor said, “The people should introspect the election results. I don’t know what happened in Kerala.” The Kammattipadam actor has expressed his strong support for the Left Democratic Front on various platforms earlier.
The comment was made by the actor a week after Kerala’s present ruling front Left Democratic Front lost 19 seats out of 20 to the United Democratic Front in Lok Sabha elections. Though the BJP expected to make inroads into Kerala electorally with the 2019 polls, the results were not in favour of them.
The actor remarked: “the people in Kerala are smart enough not to vote for the RSS-BJP”. The comment was not taken well by the saffron flag bearers. “I am an actor, not a politician but I have a very strong political position,” added the state award-winning actor. Soon after his comment, he started getting trolled on social media platforms. The trolls hurled caste and racial slur at him. Some right-wing groups have also given a call to boycott his films.
Watch the part of his interview here:
Vinayakan started his career in the Malayalam film industry as a junior actor in the film Manthrikam (1995). For two decades, he only played minor roles in the industry. In 2017, the actor won the Kerala State Film Award for the best actor for his movie Kammattipadam. The movie based on the life of dalits who live in the most polluted outskirts of Ernakulam.
As an actor, Vinayakan has never shied away from his identity. Hailing from a dalit background, he is vocal about his humble background and childhood struggles in most of his interviews. In an interview with Asianet News, the actor said, “I am an admirer of Ayyankali, a dalit reformer from Kerala. People can’t tear me apart mocking me over my caste identity, because I don’t link myself to Pulaya community. For me, I aspire Ayyankali and I am a thick-skinned person especially after the all struggles/miseries I have gone through in my life.”
