BJP and Congress are interested in Tamil Nadu. So am I: Kamal Haasan

On the brink of launching himself into the rough and tumble of politics, actor Kamal Haasan said on Saturday he believed the proverbial dirt one gathered along the way in politics was “washable”. Unwilling, just yet, to reveal the name of his political party, or when he will formally launch it, Haasan insisted on letting matters rest by saying the party name and its manifesto will reach the people soon.
Speaking on the inaugural day of the Times Literature Festival in New Delhi, Haasan said he is an actor whose calling is politics, but cleverly dodged repeated questions about his political leanings, or who he was more likely to side with in the months to come. In a question and answer session filled with quirky responses, the popular film actor, combined the ideas of Martin Luther King and Adi Sankara to say he had dared to dream and was not worried about the outcomes. He said, “I have a dream. I have dared to dream. I am a part of ‘jagrut swapna’— to be awake in a dream. And there is no fear of failure because it is not about movie making or making money; it is about making ourselves better.”
Insisting that ‘political offices’ did not matter to him and that he was only out for “pedestrian reasons”; to deliver what had so far been denied to the people of his home state Tamil Nadu, Haasan said he would begin the “cleanup act at his doorstep”, and that he would ally with anyone for the greater good of Tamil Nadu. “For the sake of my state, we will ally with whoever is good. There are no untouchables in politics. This is about nation building, so it doesn’t matter who we ally with. I will do this without shouldering their political baggage,” Haasan said.
Emphasising there are no pariahs in politics, and that he has a veritable “political buffet” to choose from, Haasan also dodged questions about whether he would likely ally with the BJP. Responding to a question about what he thinks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the veteran actor said, “Anybody who has the intent to do good for the country becomes my hero. Even the PM; why should I think of him as the villain of the piece? He is very important. No politician including me is going to deliver exactly what he has promised; he can’t. Because there are so many things that can go wrong. This country is not only ruled by the PM and minister, but also by one Mr Murphy. So, we have to work to beat him.”
Keeping the audiences guessing about his meetings with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Kerala CM Pianarayi Vijayan meant, the actor turned politician said, “They say that by 20 if you’re not a communist there's something wrong with you, and if by 40 if you are still a communist, there's something wrong with you. But I am 60 plus, and a bit of both. I’m driven by duty. Ideology doesn’t matter. Kejriwal took up cudgels against corruption. I like that quality. We are bound to make mistakes, but the point I think is to act. I took Mr Gandhi’s name a few times and people talked about that too.”
The veteran actor, who said he will make his audiences prouder of his politics than they have been of his films, also noted with concern the increasingly angry and shrill rhetoric around the country. “In this winter of discontent, the green thread that runs through our sweaters must remain, as shall the saffron. Ashok Charka is the virtual cycle that I am looking. And all of these people are capable of making that happen,” Haasan said.
Haasan also termed as ‘wrong’ the increasingly “over sensitive” reactions to art and cinema. “People judge films without even seeing them,” he said, while reserving comment on the controversial Padmavati, which he said he has still not seen.