TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Two women faces of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the former Bollywood beauty Poonam Dhillon and Shazia Ilmi, have backed youth politicians’ initiative to break the old school of thought of the more-than-a-century-old Indian politics by indulging in developmental works.
Ilmi, who joined BJP in January 2015, told a gathering attending the Women Economic Forum (WEF) that youth have started looking at politics beyond the politics of religion, caste, creed or other factors that earlier was a weapon to divide the unity of the country.
“People want a change as they are bored of the old-era politics. The young generation does not want all that… the politics of caste, creed is blurring and the technology is making them politically engaged and conscious. The youth are now not looking at issues like Ram Mandir or Babri Masjid as symbols (in today’s politics),” she said while addressing a session on ‘The New Young Politicians: changing the world view and how nations can collaborate in a new world over’ at women economic forum on Saturday.
Dhillon said that politics should be for a better change rather than “I, me and myself.” “Today, young faces want to make a difference… today we have so much to learnt from these youngsters who have plunged into politics to bring a positive change in all sectors,” she opined.
Dhillon also did not leave the opportunity to take a dig at present film industry where focus are largely at commercial ads and paid events. She quickly added that, as a silver screen actress, she was deeply involved in social causes. What prompted her to get into politics was when she realized doing social work that despite fame, one needs a political push for getting public work done.
“I did a lot of charity works and worked for social causes. I however realized that you could not get your work done until there is a political thumbs up. We had to get the work done through political interference. This is why I joined politics,” she said.
Meanwhile, Poonam Dhillon came down heavily on some of the actors-turned-politicians who fail to attend the Parliament sessions even as she supported the film industry of having knowledge about Indian politics. “Sadly, some do not attend the Parliament. It is a shame. They should not be in politics…” she slammed without naming the regular absentee Parliamentarians.
“We celebrities do know about politics as much as others in the country… film industry is one which cares and has the capability to do some work and bring out a difference.”
