The Chennai International Centre (CIC) presented a town hall meeting with Kamal Haasan. Thespian Haasan has recently launched the political party, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and has been busy mustering support of different segments.
After Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan emerged the most brilliant cine actor of Tamil Nadu. His versatility remains unparalleled and the roles he donned in several hit films were so memorable! Moulded by brilliant directors like K Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, K Vishwanath, Bharati-raaja, Maniratnam, Shankar… Haasan has lived the very many characters portrayed in their films. So his appeal among the educated middle-class has been widespread.
Hence, there were great expectations on his town hall address attended by the glitterati of Chennai, members of the elite CIC. The main plank of his party is the crusade against corruption. He was forthright in chiding the Dravidian parties for pervasive corruption suffered over the last five decades. He has the model provided by Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal who was catapulted to power just
on this plank. But then Kejriwal had the advantage of riding over the crusade of Anna Hazare and his strong team that included stalwarts like Prashanth Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav…Since the early 1970s corruption has been so much institutionalised it has become a way of life in Tamil Nadu. It requires lot more and sustained efforts to de-sensitise the citizens of the state on corruption. It’s a welcome, needed effort. But this alone will not be sufficient.
MNM, like most other parties in Tamil Nadu, lacks a strong economic platform. When I pointed to the pathetic state of finances of the state, low levels of investment, the huge numbers of agitations (I pointed to the state accounting for more than a fourth of the total 420,000 agitations all over the country during 2010-16 (and his rushing to Thoothukudi to participate in the anti-Sterlite agitation), Haasan responded that 17 experts at Harvard are working on the economic strategy and said it would be out in due course.
Politics in Tamil Nadu is different from that in most other states, thanks to the freebie culture and the cult of deification of leaders. A solid block of 20-25 per cent each of the electorate of hard core loyalists are wedded to DMK and AIADMK. These two parties have built grass roots reach. The caste factor is another formidable challenge.
I pointed to the opportunity to focus on the young, newgen voters in the age group of 18 to 35 and the apolitical middle class.
The extremely divisive nature of the Tamil polity also points to opportunistic party groupings of the type witnessed in Kerala.
Haasan seemed to have chosen a middle path; not just a state level nor national identity, but a regional ‘Dravidian’ identity. He pointed to the need for the six southern states (including the UT) to work together on a common platform, a point stressed by IE for long. I wonder why he did not christen his party as the Dravida Makkal
Needhi Maiam.
