After Rajini, it’s now Kamal’s turn to befuddle voters

When Rajini made known his intention to enter active politics, Kamal advised him against it.. He told Rajini, “Please don’t turn your fans into your vote bank.” 

Now, Kamal has changed his mind, obviously because his statement that the present government is mired in corruption has led to ministers launching a personal attack on him.

Neither of the two mega stars is ready to lead from the front. Instead, they have asked their fans to fight their battle.

Following Kamal’s call, his fans have flooded the ministers with complaints of corruption, forcing them to remove their contact details from the government website. Rajini’s fans are waiting for him to finish shoot of his current film Kaala, to take the next step.

If  corruption in public life is their main concern, neither dared to take on  the late Chief MinisterJ Jayalalithaa when she was  around. True, Rajini told the fans that if she was voted  back to power, not even God could save Tamil Nadu. 

But it was Subramanian Swamy who battled Jaya for five years from 1991 to 96 and it was his complaint that she had acquired assets disproportionate to known sources of income, which eventually led to her conviction 18 years later. Rajini lived with her corruption regime and made peace with her when she came back to power in 2001. Kamal never got involved during that period.  

Now that she is no more and the present Edappadi Palaniswami government is at the mercy of the BJP at the Centre which is protecting it from Sasikala, reel life heroes are raring to go.

Now that the presidential election is over, Rajini will come under pressure from the BJP to float his own party, which, it is reckoned, will attract malcontents from the AIADMK into his fold and thereby bring about the fall of the government. No wonder, State BJP leaders H Raja and Tamilisai Soundararajan are all for Rajini’s entry, but critical of Kamal following suit. 

Their reason: Kamal is a self-proclaimed atheist and Periyarist like DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, whereas Rajini is god-fearing. Raja  says Kamal has always been a quitter. When his Viswaroopam film got into trouble due to objection from some Muslims, he threatened to leave the country. Again, when GST was imposed on films, he said he would quit cinema. How could such  a man stand the heat and dust of politics, asks Raja. When elections take place, Rajini will be with the BJP and Kamal with the DMK. 

Cleverly, and rightly so, DMK Working President M K Stalin has invited both for the party’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

Both the stars confuse the people, Rajini with simple, plain words and Kamal with his convoluted style. If Rajini is natural in real life, Kamal is artificial. Neither has done anything for Tamil Nadu, unlike MGR, who gave whatever he earned, to the people . 

When thousands of people were marooned by the heaviest rains of the century in December 2015 and the Jayalalitha government was in deep slumber, neither the super stars nor their fans were in action. It was the students and the NGOs who went to the rescue to the distressed. It is a pity that Tamil Nadu which has seen such tall leaders like Rajaji, Kamaraj, Periyar, Anna and Karunanidhi, should be expected to look up to the stars to show the way ahead.

— The writer is a senior journalist