Celebrities in Indian Politics

Charisma or Personality of a leader has been a defining factor in Indian Politics. Today, political parties, whether national or regional, involve celebrities from all walks of life including painters, singers, film actors, theatre personalities, academicians and so on.

Film Personalities as Politicians: Key Facts

Film Celebrities have been participating in Indian politics since Nehru era. The earliest notable film personality to enter into politics was Prithviraj Kapoor, who was continuously nominated for Rajya Sabha for eight years (1952-1960) for his outstanding contributions as a theatre artist and cine actor. He was close to Pandit Nehru and the latter always appreciated his contribution to theatre and Cinema. The other early trendsetters include M G Ramachandran, N T Rama Rao, J Jayalalitha, Amitabh Bachchan etc. However, in 1970s, 80 and even in 90s, only a few film personalities participated in active politics. However, in recent years, there has been a huge surge in celebrity politics. The key facts on stints of film personalities with politics are as follows:

M.G. Ramachandran

MGR, a household in Tamil Nadu, founded All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 1972 and his party won all state assembly elections as long as he was alive. He served as CM of Tamil Nadu from 1977 till his death in 1987. He has been so far, the most popular politician in the entire South.

MGR’s star status was commensurate with his contribution to politics as well. He worked on social development of the state, and his best contribution is the Mid-Day meal scheme pioneered in the state.

J Jayalalitha

J Jayalalitha had acted in Tamil and Telugu movies before entering into politics. She became the first woman leader of opposition in TN assembly in 1989 and first woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1991. Some of her political initiatives include banning lotteries in state, restricting sale of alcohol, restrictions on sand mining etc. She was also one of the pioneers of freebies politics of South India.

N T Rama Rao

NTR, a Telugu Film Industry Veteran formed Telugu Desam Party in 1982. His popularity helped him to win 35 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 1984 elections. He served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms between 1983 and 1995. As a CM of Andhra Pradesh, he started policy of distributing subsidized rice to poor. This was a pioneer scheme that resulted in National Food Security Mission later.

Amitabh Bachchan

In 1984, Amitabh Bachchan had taken a break from acting to contest Lok Sabha elections. He was elected as Lok Sabha MP from Allahabad. But due to allegations of his involvement in Bofors scam, he quit politics and vowed to never enter politics again.

Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna was an MP of congress party from New Delhi in early 1990s. He quit politics in 1996.

Shatrughan Sinha

He has been a member of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He also served as Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shipping for BJP government under A B Vajpayee.

Govinda

Govinda elected on Congress Party ticket in 2004 but quit in 2008 after a failed political stint.

Sunil Dutt

Sunil Dutt was a Congress MP, served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in UPA government in 2004-05.

Hema Malini

She has been a BJP MP in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and is current Lok Sabha MP from Mathura.

Smriti Irani

She is a member of Rajya Sabha and is serving as Minister in the Union Government.

Vinod Khanna

Vinod Khanna was Lok Sabha member from Gurdaspur Constituency from 1998 to 2009 and 2014 to 2017. He served as minister in the Union under A B Vajpayee government.

Shabana Azmi

Sshaban Azmi has been a nominated member of Rajya Sabha in late 1990s. She has not joined any political party though.

Jaya Bachchan

Jaya Bachchan has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2004 from Samajwadi Party.

Chiranjeevi
Chiranjeevi founded the Praja Rajyam Party which became the largest party in Andhra’s State Assembly elections. He became Union Minister of the State in 2012.

Rekha

Rekha was nominated by Congress along with Sachin Tendulkar for Rajya Sabha in 2012.

Rajnikant

Rajnikant is latest entry to the league of Film Stars in Politics. He has announced on December, 2017 to enter into state level politics in Tamil Nadu and contest upcoming state elections.

What makes Celebrities enter into Politics?

Most of the film celebrities enter the national level politics by nomination to Rajya Sabha. Under Article 80 of the Constitution, President of India is empowered to nominate 12 out of 250 members in Rajya Sabha from amongst persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social service. Thus, most cinema personalities enter parliament on account of their contribution to art (cinema / theatre) or social service (upliftment of women etc.).

Further, in India, personality cult and charisma works in politics. Political parties constantly increase their influence by bringing on celebrities on board. The participation of film stars helps because public judges them by the role played by them in movies.

How has been performance of Actor-turned-Politicians?

Only few actors have really made some marks on politics and people’s lives, for example, MGR (mid-day meal scheme); J Jayalalitha (Amma Canteens and other schemes emulated in several states); N T Rama Rao (subsidized rice to poor) etc.

Further, celebrity MPs are notorious for dismal presence in Parliament. Most of them choose to remain silent during debates. For example, Dharmendra, who was Lok Sabha MP from Bikaner during UPA government tenure, had just 1.5% attendance in Lok Sabha and did not ask a single question during his entire tenure. High absenteeism is seen as behaviour of Rekha, Hema Malini etc. also.

Actors / Film Celebrities in Politics: Pros and Cons for democracy

Every citizen has right to participate in the democratic processes and institutions and actors / celebrities are no exception to this. The nomination of actors as members of parliament is as per mandate of constitution. They can have positive impact on democracy as people judge / emulate the behaviour of film personalities by the role played by them on silver screen. This gives them power to motivate / mobilize the people easily. They can become good leaders provided they have the leadership qualities and connect with people needed after initial success in elections. However, this generally does not happen. Their popularity gives them instant success in politics but that does not sustain and the mortality rate of actors and film personalities in politics in India has been very high. Most of them end their political career either shortly or without many achievements.