Actor-politician Kamal Haasan’s recent attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and comparing the national party with the East India Company signals a marked shift from his 2021 assembly election campaign when his scathing attacks were focused on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in a bid to place his party, the Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM), as an alternative to the Dravidian major.
However, he seems to have belatedly realised that his criticism of the DMK and soft approach towards the BJP, seen together with his Brahmin identity, raised doubts if the MNM is part of the saffron brigade’s game plan to split the secular votes and help the BJP. Even before the elections, Kamal Haasan’s elder brother Charu Haasan predicted that people of Tamil Nadu, known for their strong allegiance to the anti-Brahmin ideology of EVR Periyar, would not vote for Kamal Haasan due to his caste identity.
Kamal Haasan’s change of tack comes after top leaders of the party, including its vice president R Mahendran, who garnered over 145,000 votes in the 2019 general elections, besides general secretary M Muruganandam, former IAS office Santosh Babu, and state secretary Padma Priya, left the party after the assembly poll rout. The MNM secured 2.61 percent of votes in the assembly elections, and this is lesser than the 3.72 percent votes it obtained in the 2019 elections.
It is apparent that the actor-politician is looking to lift the party’s performance in the rural local body polls next month and urban body polls before December to establish a strong grassroots-level presence. Actor Vijaykanth, whose Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) emerged as a key player in Tamil Nadu politics had initially strengthened his party at the grassroots level by fielding his fan club functionaries in the 2001 local body elections.
Vijaykanth had cultivated a pro-Tamil image by supporting the Sri Lankan Tamil cause and named his hundredth film as well as his first son after Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The party’s slogan of ‘Thamizhan endru solladaa, Thalainimirndhu nilladaa” (Proudly identify yourself as a Tamil) also helped Vijaykanth to project himself as a Tamil leader.
Kamal Haasan has taken a leaf out of Vijaykanth’s book and his latest diatribe against the BJP on demands to bifurcate Tamil Nadu is a clear bid to re-mould his image as a fighter for Tamil’s rights. By continuing to be active in politics, he is also trying to dispel the impression that he is not a serious player in politics and will quit after the assembly polls.
At a time when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) with no charismatic leaders is struggling to avert a rout in the local body polls, Kamal Haasan is eying to make inroads into the major opposition’s vote bank. During the election campaign, he claimed former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran’s legacy, saying he was personally close to the AIADMK founder. But, he stopped making such claims now, since his attempt did not cut ice with the people, who never saw Kamal Haasan as another MGR.
Unlike MGR, who began his political career by joining the DMK at the age of 40, Kamal Haasan plunged into politics in his sixties. MGR grew with the DMK and launched his own outfit 15 years after he entered the political arena. MGR openly propagated the DMK’s ideology, the rising sun symbol and the party colours in his movies. In Kamal Haasan’s case, though some of his films have a political undertone to it, often his style of narration makes it hard for the masses to decipher the subtly in it.
After the phenomenal success of matinee idol MGR, no other hero had climbed to that heights in Tamil Nadu politics, and Kamal Hassan is no exception. Even if the AIADMK is in a tough situation, the MNM cannot be expected to pose a challenge to the major opposition party in the local body polls.
Besides, it is not easy for the MNM to overcome other players such as the Congress, Vaiko’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), S Ramadoss’ Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Thol Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the BJP and Left parties. Another factor that will go against the MNM in the civic polls is that popularity and local influence of candidates is a major impact, especially in the rural areas where the MNM has negligible presence.
Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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