On Wednesday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur featured in a video showing around the new Parliament building to actors Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh and Shibani Bedi.

The actors were members of the cast of Bollywood movie Thank You For Coming, slated for a release in the first week of October. They had been invited to witness the debate in Parliament on the women’s reservation bill. Outside Parliament, they lauded the Narendra Modi government for introducing the women’s reservation bill.

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Actors visiting Parliament for what came across as a promotional event is not an everyday sight. But that happened this week as legislative proceedings moved to the new building. The Narendra Modi government seems to be inviting female actors to shore up positive PR about the new Parliament building and the women’s reservation bill.

Besides Pednekar, the most prominent actors who visited Parliament since the proceedings shifted to the new building on September 19 are Kangana Ranaut, Tamannaah Bhatia and Divya Dutta. Several social media influencers who are trying to make their mark in showbiz also joined the bandwagon.

However, if the government was indeed looking to piggyback on the popularity of actors and influencers, it notably failed to rope in many A-listers from Bollywood.

‘Why not Droupadi Murmu?’

Several politicians and social media users also noted the fact that while actors had been invited to the new Parliament building, President Droupadi Murmu had not.

Meanwhile, others like Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi made jibes at the Bharatiya Janata Party government providing Parliament as a platform for the promotion of a movie.