Versatile actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party president Kamal Hassan on Saturday batted for a Tamil as the Prime Minister and said ‘we have to prepare the country for that.’

Addressing the General Council of the MNM, after being elected as its president in Chennai, he said “Tamils are the most honest in the country and they pay the highest taxes, including me. But, we are being penalised for being so. When it comes to other states, they are Karna (of the Mahabharata), but to us they remain a Kumbarkarna.”

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On the Tamils being more acceptable and accommodative, he cited the example of C Rajagopalachari (popularly called Rajaji), and said “There was one Rajagopal, leave aside the tag Achari, and he was the Governor of Bengal and also a CM of Tamil Nadu. He was a Telugu. That shows the accommodation of the Tamils. Even 20 years ago, from the same stage, I have questioned why a Tamil could not come to the leadership of the country as a Prime Minister.”

“Long before, Anna (Dravidian icon and late Chief Minister CN Annadurai) had said ‘north flourishes while the south is in decline’. The same is being witnessed now. Tamil Nadu has accepted population control. Now, they say, we have more numbers and hence more seats in Parliament. We will take care and you need not come. See, the country is run by our taxes,” he said, while underscoring the need for a fair share in financial redistribution.

Hassan condemned the proposed ‘One Nation One Poll’ project of the BJP, terming it as dangerous for democracy and the country.

“The world politics had experienced it and found it to be disastrous. The scars of it still remain in Europe and elsewhere. India does not need that. Had that been introduced 15 years ago, only one person’s name would be reverberating everywhere and the country would have been in tatters. Once in five years there should be change and the rulers should realize that the gaddi is not permanent,” he said, urging the cadre and functionaries to work towards the 2026 Assembly elections.

On his continuing to act in films even while having a leg in politics, the veteran actor justified it saying, “To earn my livelihood and to support the party, I act in films and it is my vocation. There is nothing wrong in it since no one is a full time politician. I have seen many veteran politicians playing cards and dining.”

Then, quoting Periyar (rationalist social reformer EV Ramasamy), he remarked “No one is a full time politician.”

Though the MNM is part of the DMK-led INDIA Bloc in Tamil Nadu, it had not contested the LS poll, but Hassan was the star campaigner for the alliance. He has been assured of a Rajya Sabha seat in return.

The party launched in 2018, contested the LS polls next year and secured close to 4 per cent vote share. Then in the 2021 Assembly elections, it had polled around 3 per cent votes. The party has substantial chunk of votes in urban centres.