Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister Suresh Gopi's remarks on Tuesday accusing the media of misleading public perception about the film industry regarding the recent allegations of sexual harassment against actors and directors snowballed into a controversy with the state BJP leadership disagreeing with his stand.
Gopi, when asked about the allegations against actor and CPI(M) MLA M Mukesh, said the issue was before the court and it will take a decision. "You (media) are not only making people fight each other for your own gains, you are also misleading public perception. The complaints are in the form of allegations at the moment. What are you telling people? Are you the court? You are not. The court will decide. Let the court decide," Gopi told reporters at Thrissur.
Following that, state BJP president K Surendran said that while Gopi, as an actor and a minister, was entitled to his personal opinion, the party stand is that Mukesh should resign. "Party is what the party leadership decides," he said, while speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
When reporters sought to get Gopi's comments regarding what Surendran said, the actor angrily pushed some of them away, according to visuals aired on TV channels. According to the visuals, some of the reporters approached Gopi as he was trying to get into his official vehicle and he pushed them away saying "what is this? My way is my right. Please."
Thereafter, he got inside the car and left without answering any of the reporters' queries. Earlier in the day, Gopi termed the allegations as "food" for the media and said they were welcome to make money out of it. The Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism, however, said they should not try to destroy such a huge industry like cinema.
"This is all food for you, is what I understand. You can use it to make money. (There is) no problem with that. But these issues are before the court, and it has the intelligence and logic to arrive at a decision regarding them," he said. His response came a day after the Yuva Morcha organised a march towards the residence of Mukesh in Kollam.
The publication of the Justice K Hema Committee report on harassment and abuse in the Malayalam film industry has opened a can of worms with several female actors stepping forward with disturbing accounts of the mistreatment they faced at the hands of their various male counterparts.
Amid these allegations, the government announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe the allegations made in the wake of the Hema Committee report being published. Following that more complaints surfaced against various actors and directors.
The report by the Justice Hema Committee, constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case has revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty.
