Making political profit out of an actor’s death

It is not unusual for political parties to use a death or a murder for electoral purposes, to gain mileage over other parties or for other ends. The reported suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Mumbai is now at the centre of a drama which has characters who were close to the actor, members of his family, various crime investigating agencies and even the media and others who have no reason to be in the play. It has a political script and is directed by persons whose interest in the play may be different from their claims. Any death needs to be investigated if those who are close to the deceased person or even outsiders have reasonable and credible doubts about it. Rajput’s death was being investigated by Mumbai police, but the investigations now being done by the CBI and other agencies, and the whole drama about it may have aims other than just finding out the truth.

The probe has turned out be a proxy war between the BJP-led Centre and the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government, with much of the media taking sides. The Bihar government, in which the BJP is a partner, took interest in the death ostensibly because Rajput was from the state. That interest has turned into the BJP’s election campaign in Bihar. The BJP has already issued campaign posters calling for ‘Justice for Sushant’. The fact that the CBI is probing the case and other central agencies are involved will raise the import and appeal of the case. But it is cynical politics to make an issue of the death of an actor who had no links with politics, to create a smokescreen around it, and then seek to clear it, all with the aim of appealing to parochial and baser emotions and to benefit electorally.

In the whole circus, there is also an unmistakeable attempt on the part of the central government and the BJP to run down the Maharashtra government and the Shiv Sena, which had ditched the BJP after the last Assembly elections. There is an attempt to bring in the name of Aditya Thackeray, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son, into the case. There is also an attempt to politicise Bollywood, which influences public perceptions in the country. Some actors have taken political positions and others may be prompted to do so. Apart from all this, there may be a grand political design to divert attention from issues like the pandemic, the state of the economy, national security, floods and other important matters by creating a melodrama with all spicy elements and engaging the people with it.