Megastar Mithun Chakraborty will be in Kolkata on June 2 to attend a programme of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS, as the chief guest.The programme will also be attended by ABVP's national General Secretary Yagyawalka Shukla.
Meanwhile, political observers have expressed surprise at the sudden spurt in activities of ABVP in West Bengal, which otherwise does not have much of a reach among the student communities in the state.Questions are also being raised on making Chakraborty the chief guest instead of any RSS ideologue.
Political observers are of the opinion that this is probably an attempt to exploit Chakraborty's appeal among the masses in West Bengal before the forthcoming panchayat elections scheduled this year.
Taking a dig at the event, Trinamool spokesman Kunal Ghosh said, "Mithun Chakraborty will not be able to spell out the full form of ABVP. Someone probably will have to write it down on a piece of paper for him. The organisation has no base. It can never attract the masses.
That is why it is trying to entertain people by inviting a film actor. I will request RSS to inquire whether Mithun Chakraborty consumes beef, and then decide if he should be allowed to address the event," .
Chakraborty is a former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member. However, he distanced himself from the party after the Saradha chit fund scam surfaced, in which his name also got entangled because of his appearance on the television channels owned by the chit fund entity.
He also returned an amount of Rs 1.19 crore to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which he received as appearance fee from the television channels.The popular actor joined the BJP before the 2021 Assembly polls, when he also actively campaigned for the party.