Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan on Monday said he will definitely enter the fray in the 2021 Assembly elections, unlike in the last Parliamentary polls where he chose not to contest.
MM to field more women candidates
Addressing journalists in Madurai where he undertook the second day of his election campaign, Mr. Haasan said, “It would not be the right moment now to announce from which constituency I will contest.”
Ties with Rajini
Asked about the likelihood of a poll pact with Mr. Rajinikanth, he said the possibility of such a tie-up was hinted last year itself. “We are waiting for the right moment. It will be appropriate to give more information based on the announcement expected to be made by Mr. Rajinikanth on December 31,” he said.
“Even in the highly-competitive film industry, both I and Mr. Rajinikanth have not been competitors. We have travelled in our own paths,” added Mr. Haasan. At the same time, he said details regarding the formation of a third front for the elections will be announced soon.
The MNM will prioritise on forming a corruption-free government and work towards removing corruption right from the highest to the lowest income groups of the State, he assured. The main party members have been trained for the past two years on corruption-free governance.
Mr. Haasan said that he would not accept being called an atheist. “I am a rationalist. My personal views will not affect my work towards the people,” he said.
He claimed that ruling AIADMK leaders are anxious that the goodwill and support from the public for MNM has increased. He accused the AIADMK of creating a false impression that the MNM is a party only for the privileged people and not for the common people.
When asked about the farmers’ protest in New Delhi, Mr. Haasan said MNM members had participated in it.
The three agricultural laws will affect the livelihood of the farmers. Earlier, Mr. Haasan held meetings with industrialists, advocates and differently-abled persons in Madurai. Later, he campaigned at Usilampatti before heading towards Andipatti and Theni.
Focus on women
In Theni, Mr. Haasan said the MNM would field more women candidates in the election than any other party.
Interacting with party functionaries, he said the number of women voters in Tamil Nadu was higher than men. “If this is to be taken as a yardstick, then women voters would decide who should emerge victorious in every constituency. Who would form the government..and so on,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the AIADMK leader O.Panneerselvam’s recent remarks that women and men should govern the State for two-and-a-half years each, he said that if this was the ruling party’s stand, then here (in Theni), the father was an MLA and his son an MP.
Claiming that the MNM would not simply preach, he said the party would give more opportunity to women candidates. There were at least 20 women achievers in their own fields in the MNM, according to him.
A majority of the women, he said, were described as home makers in Tamil Nadu. When many of them donned the role of daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend, they deserved more in the public life. “If elected, we will give the governance to women and the youth. In their hands, it would be safe and responsible,” he added.
Many people termed politics as gutter. “We in the MNM will change the nomenclature. It is just a matter of time. We will give a new meaning to politics in the future,” he said. Without naming the Dravidian parties, he asked the reasons for not appointing women as party district secretaries.
