Mega Tamil star Kamal Haasan looks determined to throw his hat into the political arena through a different route. His strategy is pretty interesting and at times looks quixotic. Is he tilting at the windmills ? I wonder.
Anyone, who has political ambitions in Tamil Nadu, would join either the two Dravidian behemoths--- DMK or AIADMK whose vote share put together is almost 60% plus in the State. Or they would oppose both these parties who have been branded by every political leader in Tamil Nadu as corrupt at some point of time or other and join hands with any of the smaller ones. But it is these two parties who have virtually wiped out the grand old party like the Indian National Congress and have been ruling Tamil Nadu for more than half a century since 1967. Despite tall claims by Congress leaders like P.Chidambaram, K.V.Thangkabalu, Mani Sankar Aiyar, et al, it is the Congress which has been begging the DMK for support for quite long. Hence, poor Manmohan Singh had to wink at every misdeed of DMK Ministers in the UPA Government.
In such a scenario, the BJP with hardly 3% vote share in Tamil Nadu, is less than a pigmy though it might be the biggest party in the national scene with close to two thirds of the States in its grasp apart from the Central Government.
For me, Kamal's strategy is obvious. He wants to do a David against Modi, the Goliath.
It is obvious that Kamal has been needling the BJP, the ruling party at the Centre for some time in a bid to provoke it, draw some attention and also garner support for his anticipated entry into politics. His entry could be as early as next week-- Nov 7, his birth day, though the actor continues to deny it vehemently.
For months, Kamal Haasan has been talking of launching his own political party; last week, he asked his fans to be ready for "a big announcement" on his birthday.
Though the politically astute move for him would be to attack the AIADMK Government led by Edappadi K.Palanisamy, a lameduck entity after the demise of former Chief Minister J.Jayalaithaa, why he has chosen the BJP as his target defies logic.By admitting that both the Dravidian parties- AIADMK and the DMK are corruption tainted parties, and saying that he would like to tread an untrodden path the 62-year-old actor has virtually burnt his bridges with his friend and the DMK heir apparent M.K.Stalin.
But he has been selectively vituperative against the BJP all the time while his friend and industry rival, Rajnikanth, another Tamil superstar with a bigger mass following, has always been inclined towards the saffron party.
Kamal’s first salvo against the BJP came when he made it clear that his “colour won’t be saffron”. This he uttered after meeting the CPI-M Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan.
Mr Haasan, who has accused the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu of being steeped in corruption, visited the Kerala Chief Minister in September and said "saffron is not my colour" to signal an aversion to any affiliation with the BJP.
Besides, it is believed that the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, the bête noire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rushed to Chennai to meet Haasan even without attending to official duties was more to needle the Centre than to make any concrete political move.
Kamal Haasan hosted Mr.Kejriwal at his Chennai home, also in September. The actor then said he sought Mr Kejriwal's views on crowdfunding and recruiting "young, fresh faces" for his political outfit.
"World over, there is a move towards fascism and a leaning toward the right-wing. But this is a temporary trend, it won't win," he says. "There is an attempt to bring back regressive thinking in music, art, to make it right-wing, not just in Tamil Nadu but throughout the country."
This was in response to the BJP leaders’ demand for editing out the references to the GST of a Tamil film called "Mersal", alleging it misrepresents the facts about the reform.
Now the latest remarks of the actor regarding “saffron terror” has invited an avalanche of condemnation.
In his column in popular Tamil weekly "Ananda vikatan" this week , Haasan wrote, the right wing no longer can deny the presence of extremist elements among its ranks. Terror has infected right-wing groups. He contends that Hindu terror exists, cannot challenge those who say it does:
Mr Haasan writes:
“Right-wing cannot challenge anyone saying there are Hindu terrorists, because their terror has spread into their camps as well. Such terror activities are not going to help them in way."
"In the past, Hindu right-wing groups would not indulge in violence. They would hold a dialogue with opposing parties on their arguments. But these old tactics were defeated and now what they do is use muscle power. They started indulging in violence," the actor wrote.
Hindus are losing faith in 'Satyameva jayate' and instead subscribing to might is right," Haasan lamented. "Truth alone triumphs has now become strength alone triumphs. This has made people inhuman," he added.
Referring to the counter-argument that Hindus have not been found guilty in terror-related cases, he said: “The right-wing can't challenge anyone asking the question - show me, one Hindu terrorist. Terror has spread into their camp as well.”
The actor further said that Tamil Nadu will become an example for social justice once again, and congratulated Kerala for "showing the way."
His comments were made in response to a question by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who asked the superstar about what he described as recent communalisation which seeks to destroy the Tamil Dravidian tradition of peaceful co-existence.Kerala has been witness to a series of murders following the clashes between the CPI-M and RSS volunteers in recent times.
Haasan's column reiterated his anti-Sangh positioning ahead of his expected entry into active politics.
An angry BJP hit-back at Kamal Haasan, calling him "mentally unstable" for his remarks that the right-wing in India cannot deny there are Hindu terrorists.
Senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar today said that Haasan should apologise for the statement. "His mental state is unstable. He should be getting treated in a hospital. Politics of such defamatory nature is not okay. He doesn't have any proof," he said.
Katiyar also added that the Tamil Nadu BJP will see if a defamation case can be made out against the actor.
BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao also slammed the remarks, and said the actor is eyeing Muslim votebank.
"His comments look like a strategy to join ranks with P Chidambaram and Sushil KumarShinde (both former Congress Union ministers) who, under the instructions of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, attempted to defame the Hindu religion and gave this so-called nomenclature of Hindu terror with clearly an eye on Muslim vote banks," Rao said.
Not to be left behind, another firebrand BJP leader, Subramanian Swamy, who, like Haasan, hails from Tamil Nadu, said he is not "a star of any standing right now".
The BJP objected stridently to the term "saffron terror" introduced by the previous Congress-led government when alleging terror attacks by extremist right-wing groups.
"Kamal Haasan must apologise for hurting Hindu civilisation, defaming it, trying to create provocation for his petty political end," tweeted Rakesh Sinha, who is from the BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.
"Kamal Haasan should apologise and take his words back. In reality, there is peace because Hindus are in a majority," BJP spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathi said.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said, "Such claims will not work in politics. The Congress which talked of Hindu terrorism is today out of power," referring to the political backlash the Congress faced for using the phrase.
Political analysts here see this as Haasan trying to occupy an emptying political space. "I believe Kamal is trying to occupy the considerable anti-Hindutva space in Tamil Nadu vacated by a docile AIADMK and a confused DMK," said an analyst.