In the ’80s, TV serials became a household craze in India, and taking advantage of these TV serials, the political parties started enticing popular TV stars to contest elections! As expected, once again popularity hit the bulls’ eye, and even TV stars won Lok Sabha elections and became Members of Parliament.
Interestingly, TV actress Deepika Chikhalia, who played Sita in Ramanand Sagar‘s Ramayan, won Lok Sabha elections for Member of Parliament from the Baroda constituency in 1991 as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. Similarly, Gujarati film star Arvind Trivedi, who played the dreaded Ravan in Ramayan, also won Lok Sabha elections for Member of Parliament from Sabarkantha district in 1991 as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. But what may stun readers is that Bollywood star Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram iin Ramayan, couldR NOT WIN the election!!! Reason?? Well, Congress contested Arun Govil in the late 1980s election, while BJP contested Deepika and Arvind Trivedi when the nation was raging for Ram Mandir and LK Advani had carried the Rath Yatra!!!
From Small Screen to Big Stage: TV Stars in Politics
Though Arun Govil, akaa Lord Ram on the TV screen failed, Marathi film star Nitish Bharadwaj, who played Lord Krishna in B.R. Chopra‘s Mahabharata (1988), won the Lok Sabha Jamshedpur seat in 1996 on BJP ticket!! In 2015, Roopa Ganguly joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election in 2016 but lost assembly polls in 2016. Nevertheless, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in October 2016.
After the mythological serials, the other TV serial that took India by storm was Ekta Kapoor‘s first household family soap,Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (2001). The actress who rose to great heights of popularity was Tulsi Virani, aka Smriti Irani. She joined the BJP in 2003 and has been the most successful actors turned politicians in India. In the coming elections, Smriti Irani would be contesting from Gandhi stronghold Amethi opposite Congress President Rahul Gandhi!!!
Fame to Power: How TV Personalities Made it in Politics
After Smriti Irani, the other TV celebrity, who made a big name in politics, is Navjot Singh Sidhu. Though Sidhu is a cricketer professionally, his wild laughter and unique commentary packed with one-liners, better known as ‘Sidhuisms made him a hot favourite in Cricket commentary on TV. His laughter popularized him as a judge on the admired television laughter programme, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Taking advantage of his popularity, BJP gave him a ticket from the Amritsar seat in the Indian general elections, 2004, which he won. He had to resign the seat due to a road rage case against him. He won the by-election for the seat in 2006, and retained it in 2009. However, he chose not to contest in 2014. Later, in 2018, he parted ways with BJP. Now he has joined Congress and will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Delhi.
In 2014, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party gave Raju Srivastav a Lok Sabha ticket from Kanpur. But Raju Srivastava quit the party due to poor public response and concerns about losing the election. He then joined BJP and leveraged his comedic talent to support the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, promoting cleanliness across the country.
Bhagwant Mann, another comedian from The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, won the 2014 Lok Sabha Election on the AAP ticket from Punjab’s small town Sangur.
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