CHENNAI: Veteran actor Kamal Haasan launched his political party, the 'Makkal Needhi Maiam' in Madurai. He said the name roughly translates to “Centre for People's Justice”. “I am not your leader, I am your tool... this gathering is full of leaders,” Haasan said. The party flag was unveiled before Haasan announced the name of his party with a brief pause. The party flag has six hands joining together with shades of red over three hands and rest with white along with a star in between- all in a white background.
“This is a party for the people... I am not a leader but a follower who would listen to your suggestions,” Haasan said to a crowd of tens of thousands of people who had gathered at the grounds. Before the event, Haasan had met late president APJ Abdul Kalam's elder brother Mohammed Muthumeera Lebbai Maraikkayar in Rameswaram. “A little has changed, but my people have not. I am all of your son. You all have seen me as a movie star so far, from now I want you to tell that I am not a cinema star. I am the lamp of all your house. Please protect me and keep me lit,” Kamal Haasan said. When asked what ideology his party would follow, left or right, Haasan said, “I'm centre.”
Colours black and white hold political significance in Tamil Nadu. They form part of the flags of state parties AIADMK and DMK. Also, the colours are seen as a pointer to the Dravidian ideology. The actor-politician later took a dig at the ruling BJP in a column, saying that though saffron is one of the three colours of the Indian flag, “it shouldn't spread to the entire flag”. “Some videos show people taking a vow to remove the world secular in constitution... Can we make such a sacrifice to harvest votes?” he wrote. Haasan added, “I wanted to change the politics without ethics.”
