After a long period of silence, actor Vijay has said that he will fight to remove the corruption that has seeped into every walk of life if he becomes Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
He was speaking at the audio launch of his next film titled Sarkar , which is scheduled for release on Deepavali.
His comments come months after actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth expressed their wish to enter politics and contest elections.
Fondly called ‘Thalabathy’ by his fans, the actor said that a “principled” man at the helm of affairs is required to remove the scourge of corruption in the State. “If I become the Chief Minister, I will not ‘act’ as the chief minister of the State,” said Vijay, adding, “it is not easy to completely get rid of bribery and corruption. We have learnt to tolerate it as a part of our everyday life and I don’t know if it can be completely removed.” Speaking about Sarkar , Vijay said, “In Mersal , there was little bit of politics. In Sarkar , there is a lot of politics. It has been an enjoyable year for me making this film.”
Narrating a story about how ‘kings’ should behave responsibly, he said, “In a State, if those who are ruling are honest, then others at the lower level in government will be honest. If those who are in charge of the government are dishonest and corrupt, those working in lower rungs of the government will also be corrupt. If the leader is a good person, the party will also be automatically good.”
On Gandhiji
Speaking about Mahatma Gandhi, he said that Congress was a “super-duper” party under his leadership. After quickly stating that the Indian National Congress is still a “good” party, Vijay said, “Gandhiji was an extremely good man. This is the reason why only a Jawaharlal Nehru, a Vallabhai Patel, a Kamaraj, and a Rajaji could be his followers. A dishonest person could never become his follower.”
He said that leaders emerged naturally and that a ‘sarkar’ (government) under such a leader would be good.
