Can Kamal and Rajni work together to cleanse the political rot in Tamil Nadu ?
Can Kamal and Rajni work together to cleanse the political rot in Tamil Nadu ?
Gone are the days when Tamil Nadu could think of only two parties - DMK and AIADMK. These two have been ruling the State for the past more than half a century with a vote share of about 30% each. It has been more than three decades since the Congress could be taken into account. All other parties including the Left, PMK, MDMK, DMDK, VCK, IUML and, of course, the BJP have all along been considered just an appendage, just “use and throw entities”.
The most important political development that haunts every analyst’s mind is whether the proposed parties of 63-year-old “ulaga naaygan” Kamal Haasan and of 67-year old "superstar" Rajnikanth can join hands.
The entry of two top Tamil film stars comes against the backdrop of a perceived vacuum in Tamil Nadu politics after former Chief Minister Jayalalitha's death and the ill-health of DMK chief M Karunanidhi for over a year.
Both Rajini and Kamal call themselves "agents of change" and want to improve the standard of governance in Tamil Nadu. Ever since Rajnikanth announced on December 31 his entry into active politics, the two actors have been continuously asked if they would contest elections together.
Hence Feb 21 could mark a major turning point when Kamal floats a brand new party from the shores of Indian ocean, from the iconic house of APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the most loved presidents of India and a very great secularist with a concrete vision for the progress of the nation.
Kamal calls this tour a "journey of discovery" during which he will attempt to "understand people's needs and aspirations".
Nobody is privy to what Kamal is going to do, what the policies and programmes of his party are going to be and how he is going to manage the party which remains an amorphous structure. For the past more than three decades all that he had was only fan clubs.
Even before launching the party Kamal indulged in a sort of a flip-flop. He sought funds from his fans and collected a substantial amount. But returned the same later. He launched a website.
But later renamed it as “naalai namadhe”. Kamal knows pretty well, Rajni has a far bigger mass following than himself. The rivalry between the two is virtually a replica of the one that MGR and Sivaji Ganesan had five decades ago. Though Sivaji is a thespian par excellence, his entry into politics proved a damp squib.
But such was the phenomenal hold of MGR over the masses of Tamil Nadu, he was elected CM thrice till his death. I don’t know whether the same fate might befall Kamal. But one thing appears certain .Slowly Kamal is trying to give an impression that he may not be an ally of Rajnikanth.
His recent utterances betray his thinking while Rajni continues to play a waiting game, sort of a "cat and mouse game". Speaking at the India Conference 2018, a student-run annual conference held at Harvard, Kamal began his speech on how 'mediocrity in polity is plaguing Tamil Nadu', and how the rot in the system has 'sunk to the lowest depth'.
"I come from a global village called Tamil Nadu. A state that has many things to be proud of. however, all is not well now," he began.He spoke on a variety of subjects including beef controversy, love Jihad, and, of course, his political ambitions.
“ I dare to have a vision. My true purpose is to challenge the status quo. I have often said that when. businessmen and politicians set mediocrity as standard, rubbish becomes acceptable.
Tamil Nadu is going through a lot because of lack of imagination. Apathy shown by the political class of the state is one of the primary reasons behind it. The business of the new age politician should be to set a contest and be an enabler to embed the new wheel within our society.”
"The reason I plan to start a new political party itself shows that I want to walk with the people, not the politicians," he said. Mr Haasan, who aims to "clean politics in Tamil Nadu", said he aspires to be a politician with a difference. "My films were different from my peers and I want to be different in politics too," he said.
The actor also stressed that he is unwilling to settle for one political ideology and would "feed himself in the international buffet of political ideologies". The actor also announced his plan of adopting a village in every district of Tail Nadu. "With the vision of making them the best villages in the world," Hasaan said.
He kept reiterating that his colour is “not saffron”. “Our approach is different… His (Rajnikanth's) very first announcements came in a particular hue. I hope it is not saffron,” said Kamal Probably he was referring to what Rajni called "aanmeega arasiyal" (spiritual politics). “We are poles apart. Our views on religion are very different. The colour of my politics is not saffron. The hue of my politics is black. I want to bring all colours together.”
However, without ruling out the possibility of future ties, Kamal emphasised "red is not my political complexion" and expects that the two actors are on the same page. "I hope Rajnikanth's colour is not saffron because, if it is, an alliance is unlikely," he said.
Whenver he spoke of saffron, and made his preference for “black” explicit, he made the audience feel that he had total antipathy towards “saffron” which denoted BJP.And Rajni has been a known friend of BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi made it a point to visit the Poe’s Garden residence of Rajni when he was campaigning for 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.
With initmitable CHO being the friend of both Modi and Advani, everyone thought that Rajni would declare his support for the BJP then. But, probably, Rajni is guided by the axiom “ fools jump in where angels fear to tread”.Hence he is extraordinarily cautious in spelling out his plans.
For the past couple of years Kamal has been anxious to reveal that he would soon become a politician. But most of what Rajni has all along been mouthing were only platitudes like “I would do what God wants me to do”. Many such platitudes are known as his “punch dialogues” in his movies. They include “I will definitely come, at the appropriate time”. Most of the political analysts could never read him thoroughly. Till the last moment on the final day of 2017, nobody could be sure whether he would announce his entry into politics at all. He rarely made any controversial remarks.
The only remark that had hit the bull’s eye was in 1996 when he said that “even God won’t be able to save Tamil Nadu if AIADMK (Jayalalitha) were to be returned to power. As he desired, Jayalalitha was trounced at the hustings then. photo of Tamil superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth.
Kamal had recently said that both he and Rajnikanth needed to contemplate if it was necessary for them to join hands and face the election. He said both of them were being asked repeatedly if they would face the polls together and added that he endorsed the view of Rajnikanth in this respect.
"Rajni sir, to this question, had said that only time will give an answer and I had seconded that view. Truly, only time will answer," he said in his weekly column in Tamil magazine 'Ananda Vikatan.'
Following entry into politics , “policies should be spelt out and it needed to be seen if these were compatible,” he said. "Hence, it is not a decision that can be taken now. Also, both of us need to ponder if that is necessary," he said. He signed off asserting that the question of aligning with Rajnikanth was not like choosing the star cast for films.
Gone are the days when Tamil Nadu could think of only two parties - DMK and AIADMK. These two have been ruling the State for the past more than half a century with a vote share of about 30% each. It has been more than three decades since the Congress could be taken into account. All other parties including the Left, PMK, MDMK, DMDK, VCK, IUML and, of course, the BJP have all along been considered just an appendage, just “use and throw entities”.
The most important political development that haunts every analyst’s mind is whether the proposed parties of 63-year-old “ulaga naaygan” Kamal Haasan and of 67-year old "superstar" Rajnikanth can join hands.
The entry of two top Tamil film stars comes against the backdrop of a perceived vacuum in Tamil Nadu politics after former Chief Minister Jayalalitha's death and the ill-health of DMK chief M Karunanidhi for over a year.
Both Rajini and Kamal call themselves "agents of change" and want to improve the standard of governance in Tamil Nadu. Ever since Rajnikanth announced on December 31 his entry into active politics, the two actors have been continuously asked if they would contest elections together.
Hence Feb 21 could mark a major turning point when Kamal floats a brand new party from the shores of Indian ocean, from the iconic house of APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the most loved presidents of India and a very great secularist with a concrete vision for the progress of the nation.
Kamal calls this tour a "journey of discovery" during which he will attempt to "understand people's needs and aspirations".
Nobody is privy to what Kamal is going to do, what the policies and programmes of his party are going to be and how he is going to manage the party which remains an amorphous structure. For the past more than three decades all that he had was only fan clubs.
Even before launching the party Kamal indulged in a sort of a flip-flop. He sought funds from his fans and collected a substantial amount. But returned the same later. He launched a website.
But later renamed it as “naalai namadhe”. Kamal knows pretty well, Rajni has a far bigger mass following than himself. The rivalry between the two is virtually a replica of the one that MGR and Sivaji Ganesan had five decades ago. Though Sivaji is a thespian par excellence, his entry into politics proved a damp squib.
But such was the phenomenal hold of MGR over the masses of Tamil Nadu, he was elected CM thrice till his death. I don’t know whether the same fate might befall Kamal. But one thing appears certain .Slowly Kamal is trying to give an impression that he may not be an ally of Rajnikanth.
His recent utterances betray his thinking while Rajni continues to play a waiting game, sort of a "cat and mouse game". Speaking at the India Conference 2018, a student-run annual conference held at Harvard, Kamal began his speech on how 'mediocrity in polity is plaguing Tamil Nadu', and how the rot in the system has 'sunk to the lowest depth'.
"I come from a global village called Tamil Nadu. A state that has many things to be proud of. however, all is not well now," he began.He spoke on a variety of subjects including beef controversy, love Jihad, and, of course, his political ambitions.
“ I dare to have a vision. My true purpose is to challenge the status quo. I have often said that when. businessmen and politicians set mediocrity as standard, rubbish becomes acceptable.
Tamil Nadu is going through a lot because of lack of imagination. Apathy shown by the political class of the state is one of the primary reasons behind it. The business of the new age politician should be to set a contest and be an enabler to embed the new wheel within our society.”
"The reason I plan to start a new political party itself shows that I want to walk with the people, not the politicians," he said. Mr Haasan, who aims to "clean politics in Tamil Nadu", said he aspires to be a politician with a difference. "My films were different from my peers and I want to be different in politics too," he said.
The actor also stressed that he is unwilling to settle for one political ideology and would "feed himself in the international buffet of political ideologies". The actor also announced his plan of adopting a village in every district of Tail Nadu. "With the vision of making them the best villages in the world," Hasaan said.
He kept reiterating that his colour is “not saffron”. “Our approach is different… His (Rajnikanth's) very first announcements came in a particular hue. I hope it is not saffron,” said Kamal Probably he was referring to what Rajni called "aanmeega arasiyal" (spiritual politics). “We are poles apart. Our views on religion are very different. The colour of my politics is not saffron. The hue of my politics is black. I want to bring all colours together.”
However, without ruling out the possibility of future ties, Kamal emphasised "red is not my political complexion" and expects that the two actors are on the same page. "I hope Rajnikanth's colour is not saffron because, if it is, an alliance is unlikely," he said.
Whenver he spoke of saffron, and made his preference for “black” explicit, he made the audience feel that he had total antipathy towards “saffron” which denoted BJP.And Rajni has been a known friend of BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi made it a point to visit the Poe’s Garden residence of Rajni when he was campaigning for 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.
With initmitable CHO being the friend of both Modi and Advani, everyone thought that Rajni would declare his support for the BJP then. But, probably, Rajni is guided by the axiom “ fools jump in where angels fear to tread”.Hence he is extraordinarily cautious in spelling out his plans.
For the past couple of years Kamal has been anxious to reveal that he would soon become a politician. But most of what Rajni has all along been mouthing were only platitudes like “I would do what God wants me to do”. Many such platitudes are known as his “punch dialogues” in his movies. They include “I will definitely come, at the appropriate time”. Most of the political analysts could never read him thoroughly. Till the last moment on the final day of 2017, nobody could be sure whether he would announce his entry into politics at all. He rarely made any controversial remarks.
The only remark that had hit the bull’s eye was in 1996 when he said that “even God won’t be able to save Tamil Nadu if AIADMK (Jayalalitha) were to be returned to power. As he desired, Jayalalitha was trounced at the hustings then. photo of Tamil superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth.
Kamal had recently said that both he and Rajnikanth needed to contemplate if it was necessary for them to join hands and face the election. He said both of them were being asked repeatedly if they would face the polls together and added that he endorsed the view of Rajnikanth in this respect.
"Rajni sir, to this question, had said that only time will give an answer and I had seconded that view. Truly, only time will answer," he said in his weekly column in Tamil magazine 'Ananda Vikatan.'
Following entry into politics , “policies should be spelt out and it needed to be seen if these were compatible,” he said. "Hence, it is not a decision that can be taken now. Also, both of us need to ponder if that is necessary," he said. He signed off asserting that the question of aligning with Rajnikanth was not like choosing the star cast for films.