Philanthropist and actor Sonu Sood met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, leading to speculations of him joining AAP party and contesting as a part of the same in the 2022 elections. However, the Happy New Year actor was quick to put out the fire.
He was asked questions about his possible entry into politics after rumours of him or his sister joining the Congress party and contesting on the party’s ticket emerged recently. Malvika Sachar, Sonu’s sister, is a well-known social activist in Punjab’s Moga region.
The Q&A took place during a meeting between the Delhi CM and the actor for ‘Desh ke Mentor’. It is a programme initiated by the Delhi government to guide students in state-run schools. They interacted during the event and Mr Kejriwal confirmed Sonu’s role in the programme as the brand ambassador.
“Sonu Soodji has been agreed to be a brand ambassador of our soon-to-be-launched ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme. It is a matter of joy for us,” the CM said.
However, the conversation did not end there as the actor was asked about his possible debut in politics, given the recent speculations and his collaboration with the Delhi CM in this event. Nevertheless, Sonu Sood denied any such plan and said “politics was not discussed” during the interaction because “this is a bigger issue than that” (guiding government school students).
“There was nothing political. I have always been saying this. Politics was not discussed. This is a bigger issue. I don’t think there can be a bigger issue. People always say, ‘If you want to do good work then come to politics.’ It is a wonderful field… but we didn’t discuss,” he said.
Stressing on the “inspiring” work being done by the Hindi film industry actor, Mr Kejriwal avoided making any comments on Sonu Sood’s entry into politics. His party, the Aam Aadmi Party, is the major opposition party in Punjab, the elections for which are due next year.
While announcing Sonu Sood as the brand ambassador for the programme, he said, “Sonu Sood is an inspiration for the entire nation… Anywhere in the country, if someone is in trouble, (he) contacts and helps them. This is (his) wonder and charisma.”
This programme was first publicized in May by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia. During the time, he hoped for more women to enter the science stream through this.
‘Education Mentoring Programme’ is a part of Delhi government’s ‘Youth for Education’ plan. More than 200 students of the BTech, MTech and PhD courses from the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technological University will be mentoring close to 1,000 school students and guiding them in their careers.
“Although our nation is seeing major innovations in every field… these are mostly led by men. The participation of women is abysmal … especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects”, he had then said.
The work done by Sonu Sood during the lockdown period of helping migrant workers travel back to their hometowns was also discussed during the event. The actor spoke about a new online job portal he has created called ‘Pravasi Rojagar’ to aid migrant workers in getting employed.
“I was connected with the 7.5 lakh migrants. I had their data… Whenever I sent some home, I used to ask if they were coming back. They told me that they would if they got jobs. They were scared that their parents might stop them from going back to (cities and other places) where they worked,” he said.
