The Makkal Needhi Maiam manifesto for the 2021 Assembly election is a vision document with a 10-year time frame and not a plaster to merely cover current problems, party president Kamal Haasan said, while releasing the document in Coimbatore on Friday.
“It is not a plaster to just cover current problems like the State’s debt. The manifesto is not like those of others -- offering freebies. It is an organic, living document,” he said.
The manifesto is the MNM’s vision document for the State, to bring it out of debt by not only increasing revenue but also promoting growth. Washing machines or other items that political parties had promised as freebies would only increase the State’s burden -- or, in other words, increase the per capita debt. And that meant that political parties were cheating people by playing on their gullibility, Mr. Haasan said.
MNM, on the other hand, would skill youth, women and the unemployed to help them improve their income or get a job, he said.
Explaining the salient features of the manifesto, the party’s vice president V. Ponraj said the party, if voted to power, would usher in a separate entrance examination for medical colleges, ‘SEET’, on the lines of NEET. This was to protect the State's rights and if it was not possible the party would fight a legal battle with the Centre.
Mr. Haasan also spoke about turning profitable State-run enterprises by making the employees share-holders.
IT raids
MNM president Kamal Haasan said the Income Tax raid at the premises of party treasurer Chandrasekaran was a raid on an individual. This had nothing to do with the MNM and there shouldn't be a trial by media.
There would be action against Chandrasekaran if he was guilty and until then, he was innocent, Mr. Haasan said.
