KOCHI: Responding to the criticism by Pathanapuram MLA and actor KB Ganesh Kumar against his statement that Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) is a club, general secretary of the movie actor’s body Edavela Babu wrote an open letter to the senior actor pointing out that club is not a bad word.
Quoting Wikipedia, he said, “A club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities. There are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.”
“Going by the definition, what is wrong in calling AMMA that works to ensure the welfare of movie artists a club? All clubs are registered as charitable organisations. There is no need to interpret it as a place for playing cards and conducting booze party,” he said in the letter. “There are many organisations like Lion’s Club and Rotary Club that are involved in charitable activities. So I don’t understand why you said AMMA should not stoop to the level of a club, said Edavela Babu.
Replying to the statement of Babu, Ganesh Kumar had said that AMMA was not a club, but a registered charitable organisation that was meant to work for the welfare of its members and struggling old artistes among other social work. He demanded that as long as the AMMA has not changed its original purpose, Edavela Babu should withdraw his statement and apologise to its members and the public.
Regarding the demand to initiate action against actor Vijay Babu who has been accused of raping an actor, Babu asked how can AMMA take action when the court has granted anticipatory bail to him. The investigation is in the primary stage and the executive committee (EC) of AMMA has accepted his offer to step down from the EC. He pointed out that Ganesh Kumar had supported the stand that there was no need to take action against Bineesh Kodiyeri when he was arrested by the NIA. Amma had taken a similar stand in the case of actors Jagathy Sreekumar and Priyanka, he reminded.