Rajini invokes MGR, seeks to fill ‘political void’ in TN
CHENNAI: Superstar Rajinikanth invoked on Monday AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran’s legacy, saying he wants to fill the ‘political vacuum’ created in Tamil Nadu after the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa , and give good governance to the people.
The actor, who announced on December 31 last year his decision to enter politics, stopped short of announcing his party as he gave his first political speech to an audience at an event marking the birth centenary of MGR, as Ramachandran is popularly known.
“I can repeat the good governance that MGR provided, with the help of good advice of good people,” Rajinikanth said addressing a large crowd after unveiling the statue at MGR University in Chennai.
In his speech televised across the state, the 67-year-old said he wants to step in politics because of the vacuum in the state and is confident of providing a government like that of MGR, who ruled the state for almost a decade until his death in 1987.
Rajinikanth said the state is crying for a leader to guide it because the two towering leaders after MGR — AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi — are either dead or out of active politics.
MGR is often referred to as the benchmark of success in politics, especially for an actor, with many other actors trying to emulate him by taking the political plunge in the state.
“Nobody can match MGR even in 1,000 years and that includes me,” Rajinikanth said referring to criticism, especially from the ruling AIADMK, that not all can emulate MGR’S success in politics.
He said that he learnt politics watching Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. “Politicians have been asking me: ‘Why are you coming to politics, leaving the grease paint and arc lights?’ It is because you people are not doing the job. So I have to come to politics,” Rajinikanth said.
He responded to critics who went after his previous comments that he would practice spiritual politics, which several people interpreted as him leaning towards the BJP.
“When I said spiritual politics, I meant spiritual to be cleanliness. My politics will be politics without caste and it will be clean,” he explained.
Reacting to the actor’s speech, DMK leader Manu Sundaram said he may not gain much from his strategy to invoke MGR for his political entry. “The state is grateful of MGR’S contribution but it is unlikely that the younger generation remembers or can relate with the former chief minister,” he said.
Rajinikanth’s event comes days after his contemporary Kamal Haasan launched his political party. “No one can win with cinema charisma alone … Look at Chiranjeevi, a superstar in Andhra, what happened?” CR Saraswathi, the AIADMK rebel faction leader, said.