The BJP on Sunday rejected allegations of exerting indirect control and influence over the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A) through its president Shwetha Menon, stating that the actor is not a member of the party.
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The BJP’s statement came a day after a clutch of women members of A.M.M.A accused Menon of attempting to create communal tensions within the outfit. One of the members also played an audio clip, supposedly of a woman BJP leader, claiming that a major corporate group would have donated ₹15 crore to A.M.M.A if Menon remained at the helm as its president. Menon has dismissed the charges of being a BJP sympathiser.
BJP state general secretary S Suresh told reporters, “There is a tendency to unnecessarily drag the BJP into issues surrounding the film industry. As a party, we register strong protest against it. Our party, which governs India, is not in such a desperate position that it needs to win over film personalities by paying crores of rupees.”
Suresh said that Menon did not become the president of A.M.M.A as a representative of the BJP. “She is a nationalist. But she is not a member of the BJP or a sympathiser,” he said.
He said that if the film industry faces a crisis, there are eligible persons within its ranks to find solutions. “The BJP has adopted the stand that there is no need for a political intervention,” he said.
On Saturday, Menon termed her fight within the outfit against a ‘power group’ which has been ‘attacking’ her since she began as its president in 2025. Menon, who assumed the position of the first woman president of A.M.M.A in August last year, has been allowed by a local court to continue in the role until the next organisational elections are called. An ad-hoc committee headed by Ramesh Pisharody disbanded following the court order.
In a Facebook post, Menon said that A.M.M.A takes care of the needs of many artists who do not have a regular income. In order to collect funds as donations, its leading actors including Mammootty and Mohanlal participate in sponsored programmes, she said.
“But I discovered financial discrepancies by certain accused in the funds kept aside for the needy. When I questioned those discrepancies, they began personally insulting me. There was an attempt to assault me at the general body meeting. From the time I assumed the office of the president of A.M.M.A, I realised that an ordinary woman like me cannot face the power group alone within the outfit,” she wrote.
