Rajinikanth, the leading super star of Tamil moviedom, made his first political statement on Tuesday evening since he announced his intention to launch a political outfit on December 31, 2017.
Addressing the readers and staff of Tuglaq, Tamil’s leading socio-political magazine launched by late “Cho” Ramaswamy, Rajnikanth declared that Tuglaq was the magazine read by the intelligentsia in Tamil Nadu. “Those who read Murasoli (the mouthpiece of DMK of which late Karunanidhi was the editor) are known as DMK activists while the readers of Tuglaq are known as the intelligentsia,” said Rajinikanth while delivering the keynote address in the meeting held in connection with the 50th anniversary of the magazine.
The Tuglaq annual meeting is considered as the State’s most important cultural event and sets the political agenda of Tamil Nadu for the next year. Rajinikanth pointed out that even late Karunanidhi was an ardent reader of the magazine Tuglaq.
He also said that he would not make any political announcement or observation considering the solemnity of the occasion. M Venkiah Naidu, vice president was the chief guest and was present when Rajinikanth made the announcement.
It may be remembered that Rajinikanth was lampooned by Murasoli daily for his political dreams. The DMK mouthpiece had declared in an unsigned article in October 2018 that the party does not welcome Rajnikanth’s intention to launch a political outfit. But the DMK is yet to tell anything against the other super star Kamal Haasan who launched his political party Makkal Neethi Meiam.
Though Rajinikanth had not reacted to the article at that time, he chose the venue of Tuglaq to tell the people of the State that his respect and regards were with “Cho”, who has been his close friend for more than three decades. Cho Ramaswamy had told his readers many time in the past that Rajinikanth is the ideal person to be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
S Gurumurthy, leading chartered accountant, who is the chief editor of Thuglaq since the passing away of Cho Ramaswamy, reiterated his stance that Rajnikanth’s entry into political arena would mark a tectonic shift in Tamil Nadu. “The situation is same as that of 1977 when Tamil Nadu was fed up with the kind of politics played by the DMK and its first family. It was at that juncture that MG Ramachandran entered the scene and politics was not the same afterwards.
Rajinikanth is the modern day MG Ramachandran and he can work wonders in the State,” said Gurumurthy.
Kolahala Srenivaas, political commentator, who was present during the meeting was of the view that with his speech on Tuesday, the die has been cast by Rajinikanth and the political spectrum is all set to become active in the coming days itself.