The 63-year-old veteran actor spoke openly about political satire and his 24-hour membership in BJP. What does this actor, who has contested elections on Congress ticket, regret?
Veteran actor and host Shekhar Suman is in the news these days for his show Shekhar Tonite. A few weeks ago, one of his monologues had created a stir in political circles, in which he had mentioned a king who had broken a mirror to prevent the truth about himself from coming out. Many types of political speculations were made regarding this comment. Congress had shared this monologue with its X handle and raised the question, who is this king? Now, in an interview, Shekhar Suman has not only talked about the thinking behind that monologue, but has also openly expressed his opinion on his political experience with BJP and Congress, relationships with leaders, political satire and freedom of expression.
What did Shekhar Suman say on the monologue ‘Raja ne aina tod diya’?
On Screen Spotlight, Shekhar Suman said that his intention was not to target any particular person. According to him, in his monologues he comments on the social and political system of the country and says only those things which he sees from newspapers and public events. He said that the purpose of satire should not be to insult or degrade anyone. If the way of talking is balanced then people also like to take light criticism and quips.
Shekhar Suman stayed in BJP only for 24 hours
BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari became his guest in the first episode of ‘Shekhar Tonight’. When Suman was asked whether being a former BJP member helped her in getting Gadkari on the show, she said, “No, I was a BJP member only for 24 hours.” On this he was asked then why had he joined the party? He said, “Sometimes circumstances take you to such a point where you end up doing something that you really don’t want to do. It happened to me twice that I had to do something that I really didn’t want to do.”
Shekhar Suman regretted contesting elections on Congress ticket
Shekhar Suman further said, “I had once contested an election on a Congress ticket, and even then a similar situation had happened to me. Even at that time, I did not want to contest the elections. Till date, I have not understood why I did this? But it was just a membership of the party, there was no full-time political role.” It is noteworthy that Shekhar Suman had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib in 2009 on Congress ticket, but he lost to Shatrughan Sinha of BJP (at that time). Talking about BJP, Shekhar had joined the party on 7 May 2024 and resigned from its membership within 24 hours.