india

Updated: Nov 05, 2017 22:27 IST

Actor Kamal Haasan on Sunday said he would float a political party and the first step would be the launch of a mobile app on November 7, his 63rd birthday, which would keep him in touch with fans and enable book-keeping.

At a function to mark the 39th anniversary of his fan/welfare club, the superstar confirmed his entry into politics, something he has been hinting at for the last many weeks.

Tamil Nadu continues to be politically volatile though it is almost a year since chief minister J Jayalalithaa died. The ruling AIADMK is battling factionalism that critics say has hit paralysed the government.

Haasan said the party would be launched in a calm manner and mobile app was the first step in the direction.

The actor seems to be following the funding model of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. His fans would contribute funds for the party and the mobile app would keep an account of the money collected, he said.

November 7 was not a day to cut cake and celebrate but a day to cut canals, said Haasan in an oblique reference to the recent flooding of Chennai.

Under attack over his “Hindu-terror” remarks, Haasan said jails would run out of place, if people were arrested for speaking the truth.

“Terrorism is different from extremism. I don’t preach my ideology to others. I am a rationalist. If you keep putting people who speak the truth behind bars then the number of jails will not be enough to keep them,” Haasan said.

The actor said he was ready to take a beating but he was not a mridangam, a drum integral to Carnatic music, to be beaten again and again.

In a column for a Tamil magazine, the actor wrote that Hindu groups could no longer deny extremism in their ranks.

“In the past, Hindu right-wing groups would not indulge in violence, but they would hold a dialogue with the opposite parties on their arguments. But this old tactic was defeated and what they started to do is use muscle power. They started indulging in violence,” he wrote.

“The right wing cannot challenge talk of Hindu terrorists because terror has spread into their camp as well.”