After months of speculation, actor Kamal Haasan has finally announced the launch of his new party. His recently having met with superstar Rajinikanth and AAP leaders was seen as significant; his new announcement seems to lay to rest all the conjecture about the star’s political future.
On 21 February 2018, Kamal Haasan tweeted this. He announced the launch of his own party which he said is ‘here to stay’ to create the ‘change we all aspire for’. Makkal Needhi Maiam; meaning People’s Justice Center is the name of the party.
Using a lesser used but linguistically more accurate spelling of the state, the party website places the future of ‘Thamizh Nadu’ in the hands of the people, with a vision to create a progressive new state.
Haasan took the names of Indian and other leaders who are his inspiration. He mentioned the names of Arvind Kejriwal, Barack Obama, and others. He said that he would not give money for votes; a clear indictment of the way that politics is currently run in the state.
The actor got into active politics soon after the demise of Jayalalithaa plunged the state into political turmoil and uncertainty. The unseemly tussle for power and the endemic corruption of the system are seen to have propelled the actor into politics on an anti corruption plank, much like AAP.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was present at the launch of the new political party and endorsed the option of people voting against corruption.
The actor has received the good wishes of many either because of their admiration of Kamal Haasan the actor or because people wish for an alternative to the chaotic and corrupt politics of the southern state.
What does an actor/director from show biz know about politics one would wonder? However, according to senior journalists such as N Ram, Haasan seems very well prepared and was speaking eloquently about issues and not about extraneous matters.
Many commentators welcomed Haasan’s politician plunge, many decried his alignment with AAP’s Kejriwal. Others reserved judgement saying ‘he's saying all the right things right now’; who knows what the future brings?
If the history of TN’s politics is anything to go by, Haasan is on the right track. Many of Tamil Nadu’s top successful politicians and leaders such as Jayalalithaa Jayaram, M G Ramachandran have been from the film world. Even superstar Rajini has recently shown himself to be open to the idea of entering politics. So will Makkal Needhi Maiam succeed? Will Haasan prove he has what it takes?
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