All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal, MP, has said that the State government’s political motives were evident in the event organised to felicitate actor Mohanlal, who won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
Speaking to the media in Alappuzha on Sunday (October 5, 2025), Mr. Venugopal said that since it was a function to honour Mohanlal, an artiste loved by the people of Kerala, the Congress did not wish to make it a matter of controversy. “The organisers should have considered whether it was appropriate to use an artiste like Mohanlal for such narrow political interests,” Mr. Venugopal said.
He said the government was organising such PR events to overcome the public’s growing resentment towards it. “The controversy surrounding the event to honour Mohanlal should have been avoided. The felicitation of Mohanlal was yet another strategy to divert attention from the Sabarimala controversies. The government’s own actions are now haunting it, and it continues to move from one mistake to another,” the AICC general secretary said.
Mr. Venugopal said that despite the Kerala High Court’s directive not to use public funds for the Global Ayyappa Sangamam, the government allocated ₹8.22 crore for it. The action of the devaswom board contradicted what had been informed to the High Court, and the money was transferred to the account of the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society. The government is acting in violation of the court’s instructions on Sabarimala. Its aim is to make Sabarimala a centre of controversy, driven by political motives, he added.