Actor Sonu Sood who has been drawing praise for his work enabling stranded migrant workers reach their homes in different states, has turned down rumours of his joining politics.
Speaking to the Gulf News, he said he was not interested in politics, though he has received offers. “I am very happy being an actor. I am doing very well for myself in the acting profession. I am not going to join politics,” Sood told Gulf News.
As Sood is been hailed as a 'superhero' on social media for his relentless humanitarian work, rumours of him joining the BJP have been doing the rounds. Sood, touched by the plight of migrant labourers, has been arranging buses to take them home. Videos of him personally seeing off workers and their families regularly trend on social media amid the lockdown.
Speaking about the migrant exodus crisis, Sood had said: "They are the real face of India who have worked hard to build our houses. They have left their homes, their parents, their loved ones and worked so hard just for us. Today, if we are not there to support them, I think we don't have any rights to call ourselves human beings.”
Recently, he also arranged for a private flight to airlift 117 girls from Kochi to their homestate of Odisha. Sood also launched a toll free number to facilitate the migrants to reach their home. The actor has transported workers to far off states such as Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP. Now he has launched a toll free number - 18001213711 through which one can reach out to Sood's team for help.
"I was getting a lot of calls... thousands of calls everyday. My family and friends were busy collecting the data then we realised we might miss out on a lot of people who we will not be able to approach us. So we decided to open this call centre, it is a toll free number," Sood said. The actor said the attempt is to help as many people as possible to reach their home.
"We have a dedicated team working on it, trying to reach out to maximum people and contact each and every person. We don't know how many people we will be able to help but we will try," he added.
-with PTI inputs