In 2018, when Twitter trolls called out her Muslim roots, actor Khushbu Sundar confronted the bigotry head on. She immediately changed her Twitter handle to “Khushbu Sundar.. and it is NAKHAT KHAN for the BJP…” To one of the trolls, she said, "I am a born Muslim". Considered a secular person, who always stood for women empowerment, Khushbu joining the saffron party has turned into a debate in the Dravidian heartland.
Khushbu, who was a national spokesperson of the Congress party, tendered her resignation, addressing a letter to Sonia Gandhi. She then walked into the BJP office in Delhi to join the party in the presence of national spokesperson Sambit Patra, national general secretary C.T. Ravi and state president L. Murugan. “Change is inevitable. Change happens. I have switched parties. There is a change in my party and not my ideology,” Khushbu told the media at the BJP headquarters in the national capital. She explained the reasons for quitting the Congress and embracing the saffron party and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I can't continue to be in a party which has problems finding its own leader,” she said. On BJP’s contribution to Tamil Nadu, Khushbu said: "I have just come. Ask me again in six months."
Khushbu is all set for a grand welcome when she reaches Chennai. From the airport, she will walk straight into the main party office, where she will be given a grand reception. Incidentally, Khushbu is not new to politics in Tamil Nadu. In a state where cinema and politics have always gone hand-in-hand, Khushbu was one of the popular actors who chose to take the plunge in politics. She began her political career with the DMK a decade ago. In her first public meeting, she shared dais with the then DMK leader M. Karunanidhi at an event in Thiruvanmiyur. When everyone believed that she could only add an appeal element, she proved articulate and suave. During its 2011 campaign, she was a star in the DMK.
But Khushu got a raw deal in the party, which made her to look towards the Congress in 2014. Days after joining the Congress, she was given the post of national spokesperson. In 2016, she sought a ticket to contest from the Mylapore constituency in Chennai, but it was turned down by the then Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief E.V.K.S. Elangovan. Again, in 2019, the actor, sources in the Congress say, expected a ticket or a Rajya Sabha nomination. This was again turned down by the Congress leaders in the state. Her graph in the Congress party began dropping, especially after a leadership change in the state unit.
“There is no loss due to Khushbu quitting the Congress and joining the BJP. No BJP leader has invited Khushbu; she is joining the party of her own accord. Even when Khushbu was in the Congress, she did not get attached to the party’s ideology,” tweeted TNCC President K.S. Alagiri.
Khushbu has been contemplating the idea of joining the BJP since March this year. While there were efforts by the Congress to retain her, BJP leaders in the state held meetings to lure her. She even flew to Delhi to call on Congress’s K.C. Venugopal and express her grief. But nothing changed, and she was not invited to take part in the party events.
“She is a crowd puller. She is not a vote catcher. She feels there is no future for her in the Congress,” says political analyst Raveenthran Thuraisamy.
The BJP, which wants to sideline old-timers and bring in a new team under its leader L. Murugan in Tamil Nadu, had recently roped in former IPS officer K. Annamalai and actors like Gautami, Namitha and Radharavi. Khushbu is the latest in the list.
