After announcing his formal entry into politics, actor Kamal Haasan today talked about the Dravidian identity asserting that Dravidian is not related to Tamil Nadu alone. He added that the Dravidian must be celebrated across South India to be able to dictate terms to Centre.
In his column in a popular magazine, Ananda Vikatan, the superstar mentioned the chief ministers of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala and wrote, “Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh CM), Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana CM), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka CM) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala CM) are all Dravidians. If the Dravidian identity is imbibed all over south India, the discrimination (from the Centre) which we complain about now will vanish. Together, our voices will become a loud chorus that will allow us to talk to Delhi.”
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Talking about the central government’s tax collections, he wrote, “I feel of late, sharing of taxes with states is not done well. Tamil Nadu is the second largest tax contributor. It’s fine to develop northern states with it. That’s how even in families we help an unemployed sibling. But the gullible contributor should not be left to starve.”
On Wednesday, Kamal Haasan had declared that he will announce his political party’s name on February 21 at Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram. On the same day, he is going to begin a state-wide tour.
The tour will be held in phases. He will begin the journey from Ramanathapuram — his hometown — and later visit people from the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Sivagangai.
It will mark Haasan’s official entry into politics about which he has been making overtures since last year.
“At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by,” Haasan said in a statement on Tuesday.
The veteran actor said he intends to challenge the status quo “that has been plaguing the politics of Tamil Nadu for some time now”.
“However, for this to happen, my thoughts and actions need to collectively resonate with the people,” he said, adding that through the state-wide tour he wants to familiarise himself with the people’s concerns.
Haasan said the tour was neither an act of rebellion nor a gathering for glamour.
