Popular Malayalam film actor and Kollam MLA M Mukesh has courted another controversy over a phone call. The CPM MLA, who retained his Kollam seat in the recent assembly polls, is facing flak for talking to a boy in an arrogant manner over phone.
The audio clip of the telephonic conversation has gone viral.
In the conversation, Mukesh is heard scolding the boy, identified himself as a class 10 student from Ottappalam in Palakkad, for calling him six times while he was attending a meeting.
Throughout the conversation Mukesh sounded highly arrogant. He was not even willing to listen to the boy when the latter said he wanted to convey an important matter.
When the boy said a friend gave him Mukesh's phone number, the MLA said his friend deserved a slap on the face. He scolded the boy for contacting him instead of calling the MLA representing his constituency. When the boy told Mukesh that he did not know who was the MLA in his constituency, the actor-turned-politician retorted saying, "I would cane you if you were in front of me. You are a Class 10 student and you don't know who is the MLA in your area."
The boy is heard repeatedly apologising to Mukesh.
The telephonic conversation triggered a controversy with opposition Congress questioning Mukesh for his inhumane treatment of a teenaged boy.
"Are you not kind enough to ask the boy at least once why did he call you," Youth Congress leader Rahul Mamkoottathil asked Mukesh in a Facebook post. He also said the Youth Congress would offer all help to the boy once he is identified.
Responding to the row, Mukesh said the phone call was a pre-planned attempt to defame him. In a Fecbook live, Mukesh said several people have been trying to provoke him through phone calls ever since the election results came out. He said he has filed a complaint with the cyber cell about this. "If the boy who called me is so innocent, then why did he record the call? Why did he call me six times. It shows the whole incident was planned," he said. He said he attended the call once and told the boy that he would call back after the meeting.
This is not the first time Mukesh has landed in a controversy over a phone call. Earlier, he had vented his anger at a person who called him at 11 at night. The telephonic conversation, in which he used abusive words, had also gone viral.
Mukesh, 65, was first elected to the Kerala assembly in 2016. In 2021, he was re-elected from Kollam, defeating Congress' Bindu Krishna.
