Suresh Gopi has approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a case of alleged misbehaviour with a female journalist.
Suresh Gopi and wife Radhika Nair with Narendra Modi. (Supplied)
For actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, the first week of the New Year looks crucial as his strides in the film and political domains are expected to make lasting impressions.
As per the announcement of the producers on Tuesday, 2 January, Sanal V Devan’s mystery drama Varaham will be the 257th motion picture of the BJP politician, regarded as a superstar in Kerala for over 30 years.
The same day, BJP members took over nearly every empty wall in Thrissur in central Kerala to scribble graffiti, seeking votes for him.
The fact that the Election Commission of India has not yet released the calendar for the next Lok Sabha elections and that no party, including Gopi’s BJP, has announced any candidates nationwide, even unofficially, is another issue.
Suresh Gopi.
Regarding Thrissur, Gopi is the chosen and beloved option of the BJP’s national leadership. He unsuccessfully contested from Thrissur in 2019 to the Lok Sabha as well as in the 2021 Assembly election.
However, the action hero still hopes he will be the right choice, at least for once. A former Rajya Sabha member, Kollam-born Gopi has maintained Thrissur as his base since 2019.
The party’s claim to his popularity is based on the 2.93 lakh votes he got in the 2019 Lok Sabha fight, instead of the maximum one lakh votes normal for a BJP candidate.
The Congress’s sitting MP, TN Prathapan, and CPI leader VS Sunil Kumar are also pinning their hopes on the Thrissur seat.
All of them hope to win a sizeable share of votes from Thrissur’s powerful Christian community.
Suresh Gopi with Sobhana in the 2020 Malayalam film, ‘Varane Avasyamundu’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reached Thrissur on Wednesday, 3 January, to address women workers of the party. Gopi was also slated to be on the stage to address the convention titled Sthree Shakthi Modikk Oppam (Women Power is with Modi).
The event is being organised to honour Modi for his successful passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.
The convention is expected to have an attendance of women from social and cultural activists, ASHA employees, entrepreneurs, artists, MGNREGA and neighbourhood network workers, and Anganwadi teachers.
Actress-danseuse Shobhana, cricketer Minnu Mani, entrepreneur Beena Kannan, singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, and Mariyakutty, who raised her voice against corruption and red-tapism in welfare pensions, were scheduled to attend the event.
Suresh Gopi with actors Jagadeesh and Mamukoya.
On the other hand, Gopi is worried about the future course of action the state government would take on a case lodged by a woman journalist accusing him of inappropriate behaviour.
He has already moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail. Justice C Pratheep Kumar sought details of the case and posted the hearing for 6 January.
A woman journalist with the MediaOne Malayalam news channel filed a complaint against Gopi alleging that he touched her inappropriately during a press briefing, which led to his arrest.
The BJP leader later claimed that he placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder in an act of affection, and that if she felt mentally troubled over it, he would apologise for it.
Subsequently, on 15 November, the actor was questioned for around two hours at the Nadakkavu police station over the incident. Dozens of party workers accompanied him to the station in an act of solidarity, and the BJP state leadership started cornering the complainant, alleging that she was part of a CPI(M) coterie.
However, how he behaved with another woman journalist in Thrissur a few days later continued to evoke resentment in non-BJP circles.
This incident took place at Thrissur’s Girija theatre at a special screening for women of Gopi-starrer Garudan, and the actor was the chief guest.
Several women — mostly followers of right-wing ideology — jostled among themselves to have selfies with the actor, with his hand on their shoulders.
The gesture was symbolic, as the charges in the Kozhikode case revolved around his repeated attempts to rest his arm on the shoulder of the woman journalist who tried to interview him on 27 October.
Mohanlal with Suresh Gopi in Manichithrathazhu. (Supplied)
After the photo shoot, a group of TV journalists asked him about the film. They also wanted his response to a critical editorial against his potential candidature in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency that the Catholicasabha, the Malayalam mouthpiece of the Thrissur Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, published.
Even as the interaction was going on, a female journalist moved through the crowd towards him. On seeing her, Gopi advised her to keep a distance, saying he was terrified. She did not miss the sarcasm and asked the precise reason behind the police case against him at Nadakkavu.
In response, Gopi placed his hand on the shoulder of a male journalist after seeking his permission. The female journalist asked him to own up to his responsibility for the Kozhikode incident. Gopi yelled at the journalist asking her not to be “overly smart”.
The journalist stood her ground. Gopi then stated that the case was in court and that only a court could decide on his action. He refused to identify the court, saying it would amount to contempt.
Gopi’s tone and body language were aggressive, according to the Network of Women in Media, a collective of women journalists, which described the incidents in Kozhikode and Thrissur as professional harassment. For an on-duty journalist, even public space could be construed as a workplace, it said.
After the female journalist left, Gopi responded to the questions on the Catholicasabha editorial, which was based on Gopi’s earlier statement that “the people here do not have to worry about Uttar Pradesh and Manipur as there are men to handle the issues there”.
The front-page editorial titled Will Not Forget Manipur sought to know where the men Gopi had referred to had been when Manipur was burning. It also slammed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Union government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Gopi for their “apathy” and “criminal negligence” in dealing with the Manipur riots which targeted Christians.
“As the Lok Sabha elections approach, there is an attempt to conceal the Manipur issue. The political party that aspires to return to power at the Centre is making efforts in this regard,” the editorial said.
“A BJP leader who was seeking to ‘claim’ Thrissur recently stated that ‘the people here do not have to worry about Uttar Pradesh and Manipur as there are men to handle the issues there’,” it said.
“When Manipur was burning, what were those men doing?” the periodical asked. It wondered, “Will you make Kerala another Manipur if you get power here?”
The publication sought to know “why Mr Gopi intends to contest from Thrissur. Doesn’t the BJP have any ‘eligible guys’ in Thrissur?”
The church later clarified that it held no hostility towards the prime minister or Gopi.
Gopi debuted in Mollywood as a child artist and became popular in the mid-1980s as an anti-hero. Gradually, he became one of the superstars and bagged the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 1997 movie Kaliyattam, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Othello.
An active SFI worker during his college days, Gopi started adoring Indira Gandhi and the Congress during the Emergency. He later identified himself as being apolitical.
In 2006, he actively campaigned for his relative and Congress candidate MP Gangadharan in the Ponnani Assembly constituency and CPI (M) veteran VS Achuthanadan in Malampuzha, marking it the first time a celebrity campaigned for both rival fronts, the UDF and LDF, in Kerala.
When asked, he said he admired both leaders.
Over the next 10 years, he won Modi’s trust and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016.
The BJP fielded him as its Lok Sabha candidate in Thrissur three years later. Despite strict orders from the Election Commission against raising the contentious issue of allowing women of all ages to visit Sabarimala, a defiant Gopi raised the issue during the campaign.
“In the aftermath of Sabarimala, I ask for votes,” he appealed to voters at a campaign rally.
Thrissur District Collector and Returning Officer TV Anupama served a notice on him, asking for a response within 48 hours. Gopi reacted angrily, calling the collector’s note dumb and ludicrous.
He also insisted that he had adhered to the Model Code of Conduct. He even decided against responding to the Election Commission’s notice based on the report by the district collector.
The voters refused to “give” Thrissur to Gopi. He tried his luck — again unsuccessfully — in the 2021 Assembly election from Thrissur.
In Kozhikode, the female journalist asked about his claim of “occupying” Thrissur. He tried to nullify the question by calling her mole (daughter) and placing his hand on her shoulder, despite the woman explicitly expressing her displeasure.
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