On National Handloom Day, the Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan paid a tribute to the contributions made by the handloom sector to our national cultural life and economy. The actor-politician, who became a handlooms brand ambassador a few years ago, spoke highly of the weavers and the need for their welfare.

"Each family in the country should keep a firm resolve to wear handloom clothes at least once a week and take practical steps. When we wear handloom clothes, we can feel simplicity, calmness, and elegance and it comes closer to the heart," Pawan Kalyan said.

“It is unfortunate that those who believe in this craft are still living half-starved,” he has been quoted as saying.

The 'Bheelma Nayak' star said that both the government directly and the people indirectly are duty-bound to uplift the weavers by buying handloom clothes.

In 2017, Pawan got emotional when he learnt that scores of weavers had committed suicide in the Telugu States in the recent past as a consequence of their livelihoods getting destroyed in the face of competition and faulty government interventions (or the lack of them).