Kamal honours three women achievers

Gandhimathi from Salem, who provides free food to the needy, Sumathi from Adigathur village of Thiruvallur district who has worked to restore the waterbodies in her village through desilting and Devi, a transwoman from Aranmanaikadu in Salem, who has started a trust to help vulnerable individuals including those with mental health issues. 

Lauding the power of women, he said, “I am here and celebrating women because of the lessons that my mother has taught me. We regarded her with love and affection as the head of the family. You may ask what I know about women. Any hardship be faced I’ve turned to the woman in my life, my mother. She taught me that Ahimsa is the height of valour.” 

The Makkal Needhi Maiam president also said, “We have all been observing many issues as mere statistics in newspapers. Over the last five years there have been around 3,60,000 missing women in India. By missing I mean they have been killed before birth. I see not much difference between that and what happened to Usha in Tiruchy. There is no question a grave injustice has been committed. That injustice was perpetrated by the police.” 

Kamal announced that the party would be donating an amount of Rs 10 lakh to the family of Usha, the pregnant woman who was killed recently due to police inspector’s atrocity.

“People must continuously question those in power and be vigilant for good governance. I cannot be bought and that will be the same for MNM. We will not form an alliance with parties that have been accused of corruption. I could have joined other parties, but I realised a people’s government would not be possible with them,” he concluded.

Kamal Haasan while addressing students of SSN College of Engineering on Thursday urged them to play an active role in politics. This comes just a few days after Rajinikanth in his speech at Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute had asked the student population to steer clear of politics. Kamal asked the students to vote without fail and said that his Makkal Needhi Maiam wanted pro-active students. “The students of my generation were not vigilant about politics - that’s why governance is so badly affected now. I want students to take Tamil Nadu forward, and bring ideas to us. ”