‘Look beyond caste, religion, political identity’

Voters must think about who the candidate is, whether they’ve been honest: Kamal

January 25, 2021 01:18 am | Updated 12:18 pm IST - CHENNAI

Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan on Sunday said people should look beyond caste, religion and political identity while voting for a candidate during elections.

In a statement on the eve of National Voters’ Day, Mr. Haasan said democracy gave dignity and power to the citizens when India became a democratic country and held elections for the first time.

“However, many of us don’t think of ourselves as free individuals. We continue to vote as a social group – we vote for a candidate just because he hails from our own caste or goes to the same temple to which we go, or simply because our families have voted for a particular party for generations. This is, in a way, a slave mentality,” he said.

Mr. Haasan said the voters must think about who the candidate is, what their qualifications are, whether they have been honest and righteous, and what their plans are to develop their constituencies.

“Without considering these aspects, the people are voting based on caste, religion and political identity. This is defeating the purpose of democracy. Don’t look at the caste [of the candidate]. See if the candidate can achieve something,” Mr. Haasan said.

According to him, corrupt politicians were accruing wealth illegally for the next 10 generations and bringing their children into politics to safeguard their wealth.

“When a corrupt person is thinking about his family, why are you not thinking about your family? We have a responsibility to rebuild Tamil Nadu and hand it over to the next generation. If we don’t do it, there will be no pardon for us. Let us get together on voting day and win,” he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.