TN BJP’s protest against Mekedatu is a double act, says Kamal Haasan

The MNM president, speaking to journalists in Coimbatore on Tuesday, likened the BJP to the East India Company and said it was trying to privatise resources

August 03, 2021 02:58 pm | Updated August 04, 2021 07:41 am IST - COIMBATORE

Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan addressing journalists at a press meet in Coimbatore.

Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan addressing journalists at a press meet in Coimbatore.

The Tamil Nadu BJP’s proposed protest against the Karnataka government on the Mekedatu dam issue is a double act, Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan said at a press meet in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

“As an actor who essayed double roles in around 25 films, I can easily spot it when somebody plays a double action role. And this is one,” he said. The Tamil Nadu and Karnataka units of the BJP were puppets in the hands of the Central government, he charged.

The BJP was growing to be a huge corporate company like the East India Company, Mr. Haasan claimed when asked about talks of a demand for a separate Kongu Nadu state. “It [Kongu Nadu demand] is not a political slogan. It’s not the people's demand as well. It is coming from a company, the North Indian Company- BJP, which, like the East India Company, is trying to privatise resources,” he alleged and added that people would not supporting such a move.

The BJP was attempting to destroy all justice- rendering institutions leaving people with no option to get justice, he said in response to a question on the government of India and government of Tamil Nadu ignoring Coimbatore in vaccine distribution and development projects.

The protests in Parliament on the alleged Pegasus snooping issue are a reflection of people’s reaction to the issue. The State had no business snooping on people’s lives and there should be no surveillance government in the country, he said.

On the DMK government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MNM president said that though it was doing its best, it wasn’t enough. “The government can do more and it must do more. The MNM is here to remind the government,” he said.

In response to a question on the State government’s plan to build a library after demolishing premises constructed in memory of John Pennycuick, architect of the Mullaperiyar dam, in Madurai, he said it would be better if the government left it untouched.

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