The Democratic Youth Federation of India is getting Prakash for its Bengal state conference.

But not Karat.

Instead of the 70-year-old hardliner of the CPM, the party’s youth wing has invited actor Prakash Raj, known for vociferous criticism of the saffron camp, to inaugurate the three-day state conference that will start in Hooghly’s Dankuni on Friday.

Desperate to win back the ground it lost over the years, the beleaguered DYFI seems to have decided to use four-time national award winner Raj’s celebrity status and incisive oratory to draw attention to its event, instead of the dry ideological discourse the former CPM general-secretary is known for.

Raj has been speaking out against the saffron camp repeatedly since the BJP came to power. The actor’s comments drew attention not only because of his plainspeak but also for the logic, sans any theoretical baggage, said a DYFI insider explaining the choice.

Originally from Karnataka, Raj — actor, director, producer, thespian and television presenter — has worked in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi and English movies. He has won three national awards as an actor and one as a producer.

“Although I don’t belong to any ideology or political party, I usually go for such events. Just a few days ago, I had attended a meeting of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (a farmers’ group) in Chamarajanagar (in Karnataka) where I interacted with young people who wanted to revive the farmers’ movement,” Raj told The Telegraph.

However, the actor said he would have agreed to attend an event even if the invitation had come from the Congress or the BJP.

Such flexibility has not been the norm in the CPM, which has a history of chucking out intelligent young faces invoking the doctrine of democratic centralism.

DYFI state president Sayandip Mitra said it was a first for the organisation to invite an actor to launch the state conference and the 53-year-old star’s “anti-fascist” credentials made him the right candidate for the honour.

“Apart from an actor par excellence, Raj has made a place of his own among the youths of the country for boldly speaking out, repeatedly, against the BJP-RSS parivar, Hindutva, saffron terror and the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duopoly,” said Mitra.

Speaking to this newspaper, Raj said: “Any place that would attract young minds is where I want to be, and I see a lot of young minds coming there.”

In order to up its game, the DYFI has already reached out to Left-leaning Bengali actors, including Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Chandan Sen and Badshah Moitra, to make videos for social media.

Sources said the organisation was trying to get messages from poet Sankha Ghosh and actor Soumitra Chatterjee also.

Additional reporting by K.M. Rakesh in Bangalore