Kerala MLA's new look creates confusion, even cops could not identify

This MLA from Thiruvalla decided to shave his long beard and moustache, which has been carefully maintained for 40 long years, thereby creating confusion even among cops and security guards.

Pathanamthitta: As the barbershops and hi-end salons remain closed owing to the COVID lockdown, most people are not able to get their routine ‘cuts’ done. While many find it very difficult to trim their hair, moustache and beard all by themselves at home now, most others flaunt a tonsure and a clean-shaven look for sheer convenience and comfort during the lockdown.

The politicians consider their hairstyles, beard and moustache as part of their identity in the public. They hardly experiment with their looks as they think that voters should not forget their faces once it gets registered in their minds.

This MLA from Thiruvalla, however, decided to shave his long beard and moustache, which has been carefully maintained for 40 long years. MLA Mathew T Thomas now sports a clean-shaven look and it is hard to identify him now. MLA’s ‘new look’ piques more curiosity among the people who see him when they know the story behind his long beard and moustache and the reason for his all-new ‘lockdown style’.

During Mathew Thomas’s college days, he used to admire the long beard and moustache style of S Chandrashekar, the then Janatha Party president, who later went on to be the Indian Prime Minister. Mathew T Thomas says it was this awe for Chandrashekar’s long beard that inspired him to grow and maintain his long beard all these years. Later, his long beard became a mark of identity for Mathew T Thomas.

Flaunting a clean-shaven look, the MLA says, there is a reason for this change now. As part of the COVID spread prevention measures, the MLA has been travelling and talking to many people. The health department officials warned him that the long-grown beard could possibly be a reason to easily contract the virus. Considering this warning seriously, Mathew decided to shave off his beard and moustache that he has been maintaining for the past 40 years.

“In the new look, even the police officers who saw me had a confusion in identifying me, initially,” chuckles MLA Mathew Thomas.