Periyar's dream realised: Kamal Haasan on priests' appointment

Chennai: Actor Kamal Hassan, who is set to launch himself into politics by the end of this year,on Monday saw Kerala government's decision to appoint 36 non-Brahmins as temple priests as realization of late Periyar's dream.

In a tweet, Kamal Hassan congratulated Kerala Chief Minister Pinnarayi Vijayan for the "bravo" act. The actor calls Vijayan as his "good friend" and had met him in Thiruvananthapuram on September 1 for Onam lunch as part of his "learning curve" before his formal launch into politics.

"Bravo Travancore Devaswom Board. Salute to Kerala Chief Minister Pinnarayi Vijayan for appointing 36 non-Brahmin priests. Periyar's dream realised," Kamal wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The actor has been quite active on Twitter for the past few months and has been commenting on almost all issues concerning Tamil Nadu and other southern states. He had also declared a war on corruption a few months back when he asked people to send complaints of corruption in every department to the minister concerned.

In his tweet on Monday, Kamal hailed the Kerala Government's move as "realization of late Periyar's dream" since the legendary Dravidian rationalist had fought many a battle to get equal rights for all sections of the society in temples in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Periyar had led the agitation in 1924 at Vaikom, a small town in the then Travancore state and current Kerala, to secure freedom of movement for all sections of society through the public roads leading to the Sri Mahadevar Temple in the town. Ezhava community members were not allowed to use the road leading to the temple before the agitation.