It has been months since Pawan Kalyan took a decisive turn towards Hindutva. With Jana Sena in the arms of the BJP, the alliance between Power Star and the Modi-Shah sena has been no secret.

With the Antarvedi incident, the actor-politician has upped the game. Earlier this week, he amplified the 'Bharatiya Culture Matters' campaign on social media, responding to which the likes of Ram Charan have spoken of the need to practise Sanatana Dharma in our lives.

More than ever, Pawan is now wanting to be seen as a devout Hindu. On Twitter, he has been retweeting Hindutva ideologue David Frawley and others for months. But it is only now that he seems to be intent on fortifying his Hindutva credentials and politics.

That's why he should now brace for a concerted media backlash against him. There are forces that will be keen to brand him as a bigot, a communalist and a hypocrite. The same forces who have never been bothered about the ideological purity of any leader or political party will now train their guns on how Pawan has made a 180 degree turn from Communism and Che Guevara to Hindutva and Narendra Modi.

Jana Sena has been orphaned by a lack of clout on mainstream media. With vast segments of the majority community in the State still untouched by Hindutva, they may not sympathize with Pawan Kalyan if he is tarred with the communal brush by rank casteists. Caste consciousness will be deployed by manipulators in showing up Pawan in a negative light.

To be sure, such campaigns have been nothing new. The BJP and RSS have battled casteist, minority communalist forces in several States. If the Sangh machinery consistently works on the ground, it will be advantage Pawan in the long run.