Stoking a controversy, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan has said free India’s first “extremist was a Hindu” — Nathuram Godse who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
Haasan’s comments drew sharp reaction from the BJP, which said, “Haasan is in a hurry to prove that he follows the Congress and Communists in showing Hindus in a bad light to appease minorities for the sake of his new venture.”
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, BJP leader and Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “It proves that he does not understand the difference between an assassin and a terrorist.”
The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP slammed Haasan for “divisive politics” and approached the Election Commission seeking action against Haasan.
However, the Congress and Dravidar Kazhagam, floated by Dravidian veteran late EVR Periyar, came out in support of the MNM leader.
Addressing an election rally in Aravakurichi on Sunday night, Haasan said, “I am not saying this because this is a Muslim dominated area... Free India’s first extremist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (extremism) starts.”
BJP TN president Tamilisai Soundararajan said the whole nation was shocked when Gandhi was assassinated and none can justify it, and that Godse was hanged for the “heinous” crime.
She said it was “strongly condemnable” that Haasan used the phrase “Hindu extremism” in a Muslim-dominated area.
“Though he talks of taking forward a new kind of politics, he also indulged in the old,mischievous, poisonous and divisive vote bank politics,” Soundararajan said in a statement.
She said his remarks amounted to inciting “communal violence”.
In an apparent reference to the deadly Easter bombings in Sri Lanka which left over 250 dead, she asked whether persons like Haasan were vocal in discussing the issue “despite being known that the perpetrators were Muslims.”
Soundararajan said Haasan’s remarks in a Muslim dominated area were “mischievous and agenda-driven.”
The party also filed a complaint with the EC against Haasan for his remarks, saying they were made at a village in Aravakurichi, which was a “thickly-populated” Muslim area. “The intention of Kamal Haasan is to create religious unrest in society and create communal tension in the Constituency and all over the state.”
Actor Vivek Oberoi slammed Haasan’s remarks, saying both art and terror “have no religion” and asked if Godse’s faith was mentioned to corner Muslim votes. “Dear Kamal sir, you are a great artist. Just like art has no religion, terror has no religion either! You can say Godse was a terrorist, why would you specify Hindu ? Is it because you were in a Muslim dominated area looking for votes?,” he asked in a tweet.
Haasan, however, found support from the Congress and DK, whose leaders said they found nothing wrong with the actor-politician’s remarks. TNCC President K S Alagiri said he concurred with Haasan “1000 per cent”, while DK chief K Veeramani said Godse trained with RSS.
Aravakurichi is one of the four Assembly constituencies where bypolls are scheduled on May 19. MNM has fielded S Mohanraj from this segment.