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Kamal Haasan wants to revive political decency in a state dominated by political hatred

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Instead of placing himself above the people or the party cadres, Nammavar Kamal tries to project himself not as a leader but one among the teeming masses.

It is no longer the ‘Ulaganayakan’ Kamal Haasan of the film world (hero of the world), but ‘Nammavar’ Kamal Haasan (one of ours) who is stepping forth now in Tamil Nadu to launch his political party.

Like in his movies, Kamal is looking at symbolism by choosing Madurai for the launch of his party, which is named Makkal Neethi Maiam (loosely translated as Centre for Justice to People or People’s Justice Centre). “It was in Madurai that Gandhi changed his (style of) dress,” he said.

For the past few months, skeptics had dismissed him as a flash in the pan, deriding his regular, but often oblique tweets, or the equally vague noises he had made in his writings in a Tamil magazine. His meetings with the chief ministers Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Mamata Bannerjee (West Bengal) too had been viewed with skepticism. His meetings with the patriarch of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Muthuvel Karunanidhi had given rise to speculations that his new political party would be a B team for the DMK targeting the ruling AIADMK and the BJP’s Hindutva.

While the AIADMK has deigned not to take cognisance publicly, the DMK said it is not bothered about “paper flowers” suddenly appearing on the scene.

During the past few days, Kamal seems to have done almost everything right. He knows the risks involved in launching a political party, from the experience of several other actors before him. Though there has always been an umbilical connect between the film world and politics in Tamil Nadu, popularity in the movies and huge fan base are not a sure-fire recipe for success in politics.

That’s why he seems to have worked carefully on the optics. He has not only met Karunanidhi, but also his long-time friend and fellow aspiring actor-politician Rajinijkanth, with the likes of Vijayakanth of DMDK and veteran CPI leader R. Nallakannu. These meetings, by his own admission, were not for seeking their alliance in the future, but to revive the culture of political decency. For long, Tamil Nadu politics had been dominated by the pathological hatred between the leaders of the two main parties — DMK and the AIADMK — which has not diminished even after the death of Jayalalithaa.

Kamal’s meeting with these leaders and the cordial relations that he has tried to have with them comes as a breath of fresh air. Significantly, he has not bothered to meet anyone in the AIADMK or the BJP, the prime targets of his politics — the former for its corruption and non-governance and the latter for its Hindutva politics. At the same time, he has also steered clear of smaller parties like the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of Dr S. Ramadoss, or for that matter any of the Dalit parties. Kamal Haasan is a self-proclaimed Periyar E.V. Ramaswami follower and claims to be anti-caste, despite his Brahmin antecedents. Naturally, he does not want to be seen in the company of caste-based political parties, as he wants his party to cut across caste lines.

In a state, where politicians love to be addressed by the titles given to them by their own partymen (like Kalaignar for Karunanidhi, Amma for Jayalalithaa or Thalapathy for Stalin), Kamal too seems to have fallen for this. But the singular difference is that instead of placing himself a notch or two above the people or the party cadres, Nammavar Kamal tries to project himself not as a leader but one among the teeming masses.

It is with this in mind that he has started his political journey from the residence of the late President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who has been revered in Tamil Nadu as the people’s president, and taking the opportunity to visit Rameswaram to meet with fishermen. During this meeting and at the press conference held later, Kamal tried to drive home this point. “I am not here to seek membership for my party. I have come here to become one among you.”

In fact, Kamal revealed during the press conference that he had spoken to Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who advised him not to lay too much emphasis on devising principles and policies of the party. “Look at what you can do for the people, what the people want, and take those the policies of your party,” Kamal quoted Naidu as saying.

And that is the theme that Kamal has been working on.

Kalyan Arun is a political analyst and journalism educator in Chennai. He tweets at @kalyanarun

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