- Monday, February 24, 2025
The veteran filmmaker, who floated his MNM in 2018, has decided to support senior ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the upcoming elections.
By: Shubham Ghosh
FILMSTARS joining electoral politics is not new in India, particularly in its southern states. This year, speculation was rife over Kamal Haasan contesting the general elections due in April and May but the veteran actor has now decided against fighting in the polls himself and instead will campaign for the regional alliance in the southern state of Tamil Nadu led by its ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is known to be opposed to prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 69-year-old actor-filmmaker-politician, who formed his own party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) in 2018, announced on Saturday (9) that his outfit will ally with the DMK and extend the latter full support in the general elections.
In Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, he confirmed the alliance saying it was finalised for the sake of the country and not for consideration of any post. The DMK allotted one seat to MNM for the elections to the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the Indian parliament next year. The deal was finalised at the DMK headquarters in Chennai and in the presence of both Haasan and MK Stalin, the chief of the DMK and the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
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However, a report in India’s Hindu said that Haasan’s decision to opt out of the elections and campaigning for the DMK-led alliance in the state has left many of his supporters in the MNM disappointed. The opposition BJP also targeted him over his move.
The MNM had contested the Tamil Nadu state elections in 2021 and secured 2.62 per cent of the votes polled even though it failed to win any seat and finished second in one, which was Haasan himself. The decision against contesting the upcoming election has raised questions over the party’s fate, the report added. In the 2019 general elections, the party had contested in 36 out of the state’s 39 seats but failed to win any. It finished third in 11 constituencies.
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On Sunday (10), the MNM released a video that featured Haasan’s speeches comparing the current situation in India with the Emergency of the 1970s and the need for the Opposition forces to join hands and stop allegedly divisive forces from taking advantage. The video concludes with the leader saying he was ready to sacrifice “little differences” and that his politics was about sitting with the Opposition for the sake of the nation.
The Hindu report also cited sources saying that Haasan was keen to contest as a candidate of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance from Coimbatore or South Chennai constituency but was reluctant to contest on the election symbol of the Indian National Congress and preferred his party’s own torch symbol. This happened after the DMK allegedly had asked the Congress to let Haasan contest within their quota of seats.
The Congress will contest in nine out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu while the DMK and its allies will contest from the remaining 39. Their election alliance was finalised on Sunday following a long negotiation. Like the MNM, the Congress will also support the DMK and its allies in the seats where it is not contesting.
Haasan has been found extending support to DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who are strongly opposed to Modi’s BJP, at various points of time.
K Annamalai, chief of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the BJP, slammed Haasan for allying with the DMK and accused him of cheating those who joined him hoping that he would bring a change. He also took a dig at Haasan’s film background saying it showed the influence that the DMK wielded in the Tamil film industry. He also urged people not to expect solutions to their problems from actors, saying those from the glamour world do not lead a common life to understand the common people’s plight.
