Malayalam actor and Kollam MLA M Mukesh of the CPI(M) has landed himself in a controversy after a phone call of him shouting at a boy was leaked. In the phone call, the caller claims to be a Class 10 student from Ottappalam in Palakkad district. Though the caller said that he called for an urgent matter, the CPI(M) legislator refused to listen to him. Mukesh was heard shouting at the boy, asking why he did not call the Palakkad MLA instead.
The boy is heard saying he got the number from one of his friends, so he called to tell the Kollam MLA an urgent matter. Mukesh replied saying the friend who gave his number should be slapped in the face. The actor-politician then asks the boy who is the MLA in the constituency he belongs to. When the boy replied saying he doesn’t know, Mukesh said if the boy was in front of him, he would have beaten him using a cane.While the boy goes on to say sorry, the Kollam MLA keeps on scolding him. Mukesh also warns him not to call again. At no point during the phone conversation does Mukesh ask or listen to what the boy’s problems are.
After the phone call was leaked and triggered outrage among many, Mukesh took to Facebook to say that he had been receiving several calls on his phone since the Assembly election results. "Since the election results I have been getting calls. Within an hour my phone would drain out of charge. Some complain that there is no current, some would ask why the trains are late. It is like a planned harassment. They were trying to provoke me but couldn't win until now," the MLA said.
Mukesh said that this boy called while he was on a Zoom meeting. He said he had taken the boy’s first call and informed him that he was in a meeting and would call back. "But he kept on calling six times. Finally the meeting got cut," Mukesh said, alleging that someone had planned to harass him using the boy. If he were so innocent why did he call six times, why did he record the phone call? So everything is planned," the MLA said.
He said that nobody should teach him how to behave with children. Mukesh also said that his warning to beat the boy using a cane was just a metaphor. The caller, meanwhile, has not yet been identified.