Will Trump try do a Bollywood dance number with some actors?
NEW YORK: An alleged charity event being organized by an Indian American Republican supporter of Donald Trump, in New Jersey – where the GOP presidential nominee is allegedly going to also be present (though no official statement has come from the Trump camp) – has faced a major setback with the venerable motivational speaker Sri Sri Ravi Shankar clarifying that he will not attend the event, and that his images being used on the event’s banner were “incorrect”.
A statement from Sri Sri’s office was sent to The American Bazaar, clarifying his stand on the issue.
“The Art of Living would like to clarify that our founder, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is not attending the rally where Mr. Donald Trump would be addressing the gathering and as reported in sections of the media,” Sreekumar Nair, from the Art of Living Bureau of Communication, said in the statement.
“Some images of our founder on the event’s banner have also been doing the rounds of social media. This information is incorrect,” Nair added.
The said event, to be supposedly held on September 24th at a yet to be disclosed location in New Jersey, is being organized by Shalabh Kumar, an Illinois businessman who founded an organization called Republican Hindu Coalition.
The money raised from the so-called charity event, named, ‘Humanity United Against Terror’ will be used for the welfare of Hindu terror victims, Kashmiri Pandits and Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, according to an interview Kumar gave earlier to The Hindustan Times.
Kumar, who is the only organizer till now to have come forward with the disclosure of the event, also said that some Bollywood actors will perform at the meet. Trump will address the audience and stay for four hours, according to Kumar.
Some later reports have said that Shahid Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Ameesha Patel, singer Kanika Kapoor, choreographer-director Prabhu Dheva will attend the event and are expected to hob nob with Trump. Actors Yami Gautam, Kajal Aggarwal, Shriya Saran and Ram Charan are also expected to attend the event.
It’s anybody’s guess if Trump would be desperate for some Bollywood fun and a date night with his wife Melania two days before his first nationally televised debate with Hillary Clinton, scheduled for September 26th.
However, knowing Trump, or not knowing him, as per individual proclivities in the matter, he may just surprise the naysayers by attending the event being organized by Kumar. After all, Trump’s been campaigning hard for months now. He needs a break too.
Stretch your imagination a bit, and try imagine Trump doing some steps on stage to the ‘Beat Pe Booty’ track, with Ameesha Patel and Malaika Kapoor guiding him.
It’s ok if you can’t stretch it that much. Imagination after all, like a rubber band, has its limits too.
Of course, like his outreach to the Hispanic and Black communities – with a wily eye towards his own White base and to show he’s not such a bad guy to moderate independents voters – it’s highly doubtful that outreach to the Indian American voters would help Trump in any way. He might get a few votes from the community come November, mostly from hardline Hindus who cannot stand Muslims. The rest of the rational Indian American voters have been solidly distanced from Trump by his xenophobia and racist outbreaks right from the primaries.
And most independent voters, who if they were to see Trump surrounded by Bollywood beauties, would be reminded of his misadventures with beauty contest franchise; not to talk of late night comics having a royal time guffawing on how Trump has now outsourced entertainment too to India and relishing popular Hindi music, after his clothing line and accessories have been outsourced to countries around the world.
Sri Sri’s decision not to have any association with the event comes on a day when Melania Trump’s lawyer announced that she has filed a $150 million lawsuit against the British newspaper the Daily Mail and a US blogger for $150m over allegations she was a sex worker in the 1990s and Trump met her earlier than has been reported.
Sure, Trump needs a Bollywood night too, that too in New Jersey. Maybe Gov. Chris Christie might join him too – if he’s stopped sulking and forgiven the Donald for not giving him the veep-in-running position, and they can both emulate the ‘Beat Pe Booty’ dance.
(Sujeet Rajan is Editor-in-Chief, The American Bazaar. Follow him @SujeetRajan1)