The Shiv Sena on Sunday took a swipe at actor Sonu Sood, saying that a good actor like him could very well be working for a political director this time.
Mr. Sood is currently under the limelight for sending back migrant workers stranded in Mumbai to their hometowns. Commenting on the public reaction to this, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, said the actor has emerged as a ‘Mahatma’ and questioned if someone can be made ‘Mahatma’ in such a short period.
“Recently, 177 girls from Odisha were stuck in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. Mr. Sood supposedly flew them to Bhubaneshwar on a special plane. Would he have been able to do this without the backing of political and administrative machinery?” Mr. Raut asked.
‘Parallel government’
“I read that Mr. Sood has been sending over 1,000 stranded migrants to U.P., Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal every day. However, U.P. CM Yogi Adityanath was not willing to allow any migrant to enter the State without a COVID-19 negative certificate, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was asking for migrants to not be sent back. Then where did these workers reach? How did Mr. Sood manage to arrange so many buses by violating lockdown norm? It was as if he was running a parallel government and got what he wanted.” Mr. Raut said.
The Sena leader said ‘Mahatma’ Sood’s name will soon come up in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat,’ and he will go to Delhi to meet the PM, only to eventually become a star campaigner in Mumbai, U.P., Bihar and West Bengal. “Such an agreement might have been inked already and that is why Mr. Sood has become the bright shining hero of the lockdown,” he said.
Pointing to the sting operation carried out by a website called Cobrapost on a number of Bollywood actors, which also involved Mr. Sood, the MP said, “Mr. Sood is an actor. He takes money to make statements. Cobrapost had exposed. He had asked for ₹1.5 crore to speak in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party on social media. People like Mr. Sood are known to wear anyone’s mask and campaign in return of money. Therefore, no wise person will trust that the actor felt bad after seeing the plight of migrant workers.”
Criticising Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who called Mr. Sood for a meeting to congratulate him on his work, Mr. Raut said, “Doctors, police personnel, municipal staff, nurses and bank employees who have been working for months could not shine. No political party-appointed publicity machinery was working for them.”
Sood visits CM
After facing criticism, Mr. Sood visited Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his residence late on Sunday. In response to this, Mr. Raut tweeted, “Finally, Mr. Sood has found the Maharashtra CM’s” address.”