THE GREAT MARGINS
They both have a cinematic background. One was a child actor while the other is a Tamil superstar. Their roles have now altered in politics. While the child actor has established himself as a massive political force in northeastern politics, the superstar is taking baby steps in Tamil politics. Their political journeys, however, have found resonance in the national political landscape. Himanta Biswa Sarma and Kamal Haasan reveal their political philosophy
HIMANTA BISWA SARMA
Minister for Finance, Health, Education and Tourism, Assam; Convenor, North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) He is a former Congressman who believes he wasted 23 years in that party. In 2015, he joined the BJP and since then has been instrumental in the saffron party coming to power in six northeastern states. For him, the biggest difference between the Congress and the BJP is that in the latter, top leaders are accessible to junior workers unlike in Congress where the feudal mindset runs deep. He believes two factors led to the saffron sweep—development activities by the Narendra Modi-led government and strategic alliance with regional parties.
Rahul is a nursery student in politics while Amit Shah has done his PhD. Whenever I meet a senior Congress leader, I ask him to join the BJP. How can Sonia Gandhi say that I will not allow Narendra Modi to come back to power? Is she the final destiny of the country?”
I am anti crass, mediocre politics. I’m challenging these. Existing parties have become mediocre I’m not anti-BJP. I am anti everything that goes wrong for the people. As for extremism, Hindu extremism exists, read the Tamil papers I became political nearly 30 years ago. But I thought electoral politics was not for me. Things have changed now
KAMAL HAASAN
Actor, filmmaker, politician He is a genius filmmaker who has never been afraid of experiments. As Kamal Haasan makes a transition from the silver screen to electoral politics, it’s quite natural for the maverick actor to express his displeasure at the mediocrity of Indian political discourse. His politics will be all about challenging that. Taking a cue from management thinker Edward Bono, Haasan said that his party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, would be the “po” of Tamil politics. Po is a creative way of thinking beyond the traditional yes or no. His politics, he says, is derived from Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar. “Dialogue from Gandhiji and the anger against caste from Ambedkar and Periyar,” he explained.