Thoothukudi firing: ‘Rajini made comment of far-reaching consequences'

CHENNAI: The commission of inquiry into the Thoothukudi police firing resulting in 13 deaths which tabled its report at the state Assembly today came down heavily on actor Rajinikanth over his remarks and said that a popular actor of that stature is not expected to act on the spur of the moments.

“When he makes a statement to which the gullible public attaches significance he is to be sure of the source of information. He has made a statement of far-reaching consequences and he will do well to verify the correctness of the material on the basis of which such statements are made,” the report said.

The report continued to say that arbitrary, capricious and whimsical statements trotted out by celebrities have a tendency to mislead the public and would create more problems than they solve. “Celebrities should act with restraint and with a sense of responsibility. The ipse-dixit of individuals have no place in the public domain and is to be scrupulously avoided more so in the case of film celebrities and those in public life,” it added.

After police firing in Thoothukudi, Rajinikanth made two comments, one at his residence before visiting Thoothukudi and the second one at Chennai Airport after visiting Thoothukudi. In his first comment, he said that “there was a total failure of state machinery including intelligence that the police exceeded their limit and attacked the protesters brutally."

However, in the second interview, he reversed his stand by saying that "anti-social elements intruded in the protest march and it was only the anti-social elements who attacked the police, damaged the collectorate building and set fire to Sterlite staff quarters.”

However, when the inquiry commission questioned the veracity of his comments, Rajinikanth had replied that "he came to know about the news of anti-social elements intruding in the protest from different media reports and such formed the basis of his comment."

To a specific question put to him by the commission as to whether he had viewed any video footage or CCTV recordings of the incident before making his statement to the media, he replied in a circuitous fashion that he did not have any materials to form the basis of his comments.

(With inputs from bureau)