Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday appealed to several Bollywood celebrities to increase voting awareness. He urged them to creatively inspire more people to come out and vote during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Modi took to his Twitter handle to urge Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan, Vicky Kaushal, Karan Johar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Ayushmann Khurrana, among others to encourage youngsters to cast their vote.
The prime minister used some popular dialogues from Ranveer’s ‘Gully Boy’ and Vicky’s ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ to urge the actors to increase voter participation. “My young friends @RanveerOfficial, @Varun_dvn & @vickykaushal09, Many youngsters admire you. It is time to tell them: Apna Time Aa Gaya Hai and that it is time to turn up with high Josh to a voting centre near you,” he tweeted.
He asked Alia, Deepika and Anushka to come forward and ask voters to exercise their franchise. “Requesting @deepikapadukone, @aliaa08 and @AnushkaSharma to urge people to vote in large numbers for the coming elections. As renowned film personalities whose work is admired by many, I am sure their message will have a positive impact on our citizens,” Modi wrote.
He also sent out similar tweets to other actors. Just minutes after the Prime Minister tweeted, a few of them started to respond to Modi’s request.
Karan Johar took to Twitter to respond to PM’s request and said that as a fraternity, the film industry is dedicated to the cause of creating high voter awareness. He wrote, “Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi we as a fraternity are dedicated to the cause of creating high voter awareness and will make sure every endeavour is made to communicate the power of voting for a solid and Democratic INDIA! Jai Hind!”
Meanwhile Akshay Kumar, who was tweeted with a dialogue from his movie ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ to urge citizens’ participation in the upcoming elections, also responded. Agreeing to PM Modi’s appeal, Akshay said that the voting has to be a “superhit prem katha” between the nation and its voters. “Well said @narendramodi ji. The true hallmark of a democracy lies in people’s participation in the electoral process. Voting has to be a superhit prem katha between our nation and its voters,” Akshay tweeted.
Aamir Khan too replied and urged people to vote. “Absolutely right sir, Hon PM. Let us all engage as citizens of the biggest democracy in the world. Let us fulfill our responsibility, and avail of our right to get our voice heard. Vote,” he wrote.
Ayushmann Khurrana too responded by tweeting, “Honourable PM @narendramodi ji, as aware citizens and opinion leaders it is the duty of every public figure to spread this awareness. We need to vote in maximum numbers and restore faith in the world’s largest democracy. Jai Hind.”
Bollywood celebrities often participate in a campaign for parties and social causes in order to spread awareness. Coming from public figures and celebrities, the influence is undoubtedly going to be substantial.
Apart from B-town celebs, Modi has also urged other popular public figures including cricketers MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag.
Seven-phased elections in the country will begin on April 11, and will end on May 19. The counting of votes is scheduled to be done on May 23.