Jallikattu stir sign of festering discontent, says Kamal Haasan

Chennai: A day after the pro-jallikattu protests ended on a violent note, Tamil film icon Kamal Haasan on Tuesday termed the agitation “a symbol of festering discontent” while lauding the protesters for their “cohesiveness” and maintaining discipline during the week-long agitation.

The youth protest that rocked Tamil Nadu was “absolutely legitimate”, said the Virumandi star. Slamming the police action on Monday, he said the students won all-round praise for holding their agitation in peaceful manner but they ended up experiencing “bloodshed” on their last protest day.

“Why did they pick up women and children? It has never happened before”, Haasan told a press conference here. He wanted “reasonable explanation” from police for their action affecting innocents.

To a question on videos which had gone viral in social media showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, he said, “Hope cops seen in the videos are not real”. There were bad elements in all sections, in police too, he said, adding he hoped their numbers would be small among the police.
Pointing out that women and children sat for days at Marina, Haasan said, “You saw healthy happy Nirbhayas (fearless) sitting there amidst my brothers. If it is possible here, it is possible even in Delhi. I believe in people”.   

"You make a fun of this movement by calling it as a leaderless movement. But look into the cohesion of it. When you go to picnic you go with joy and willingness. In office, you are working for the money. You are looking at the watch to go back home. But (during the protests in Marina) nobody was looking to go back home. Marina was their home temporarily. I am very touched by it,” Haasan said. Recalling that his parents had not allowed him to take part in the anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s, he said, “In this (jallikattu) case, parents came along with their children because they felt there was some kind of logic.”

Answering a question, he said, “If you ask me if I had made any inflammatory statement (twitter on jallikattu), I did not. If I had, it is time for me to apologise. I have been very careful (in my comments). Because, the uprising was legitimate for so many people. Something was right about it”.

The iconic star declared he was against bans but would like regulations where needed. Peta’s cry for ban of jallikattu was unjustified, he said, pointing out that more people died in accidents than during jallikattu. The same way, it was not right to seek ban of Peta, he said.

Referring to comments made by his friends that he hates Pakistan, he said, “I don’t want to hate. I want to rub down the borders. We created the borders…If I had been born in 1924 instead of 1954, I would have been sitting in front of Gandhi and asked him for more unity between Pakistan and India and not give them a separate State. That is my feeling even now.”

On the issue of corruption, Haasan said that over the last several years “People including you (media) in the society have become scientifically corrupted people.”  “Politicians do not come from Mars (planet). They come from amongst us. And we allowed it... We are the people who started corruption by paying 10 bucks to the TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiner) when we don’t have a reservation. So your leader will do it 100 times more of what you are doing,” he quipped.   
On compulsory voting, he said, “I do not think compulsory voting is a great idea. It goes against the actual tenets of democracy. You cannot force anyone. It is a choice. Not voting is also a statement. But voting is important.”

 However, he said giving incentives for voting would only legitimise doling out money for votes. Referring to his interaction with the Chief Minister on the jallikattu issue, he said Mr O. Panneerselvam thanked him for trying to maintain peace among the students.