Dressed in stark white, he is the colour element of the Lok Sabha elections this time.
Running for the Kozhikode seat, Trichur Nazeer is trying to cash in on the considerable fame he has as an artiste who has mimicked several actors on TV and stage shows. His other claim to fame is Guinness Book of World Records entries for performing mimicry continuously for 40 hours and Harmonica for 101 hours.
He arrives on the campaigning ground flashy in a pristine white car that he claims was used by ‘superstar’ Mohanlal in the 90s blockbuster ‘Devasuram.’ Then turning magnanimous, he obliges people’s requests to mimic famous actors and politicians. In between, he performs on the mouth organ, too. And after all this, he explains his plans for the people and requests them to give him their votes.
Mr. Nazeer, who filed his nomination last Wednesday, wishes to have coconut as his election symbol. He plans to visit every household in the constituency and plead for votes personally. He says though new to politics, he is not alien to social work. His candidature will be to drive in the point that people are fed up of political parties, Mr. Nazeer says. His manifesto has ample scope for social work which he plans to execute if he wins the election. The first of his many aims will be to ensure availability of drinking water across the district. There will be water tanks set up for every 25 houses, which will be filled up by transporting water in tanker lorries. Apart from this, there will be provision of free drugs for those in need and are less affluent. Ensuring availability of electricity and cleaning the sewage drains are also part of his to-do list. And for his services, Mr. Nazeer will take just Re.1 from his salary as an MP. The rest will go to the needy patients, he stresses while tucking himself into his starry sedan.