Bollywood star-turned-politician Kamal Haasan is facing harsh criticism and even calls for his arrest over his recent claim that independent India’s “first terrorist” was a Hindu nationalist who killed Mahatma Gandhi.

Haasan, who heads the small Makkal Needhi Maiam (People’s Centre for Justice) party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, made the comments at a Sunday campaign event, where he seized the opportunity to attack the ruling BJP party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing it of whipping up division based on caste and religion.

“I am not saying this just because this is a Muslim-dominated area,” Haasan told the crowd while speaking in Tamil. “They attack me for saying that Hindu extremism exists in India. I say that independent India’s first terrorist was a Hindu. His name is Nathuram Godse,” he said, in reference to the Hindu nationalist who shot and killed Gandhi in 1948.

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“Good Indians desire equality and want the three colours in the tricolour to remain intact. I am a good Indian, I will proudly proclaim that,” Haasan added.

Critics were quick to slam Haasan for his comments linking Hindus to terrorism, with a flurry of calls on Twitter for the Bollywood star’s arrest for promoting hate speech. Some BJP supporters accused him of begging for votes by appeasing India’s minorities.

I demand the arrest of @ikamalhaasan for trying to create enemity between two religions. Communal @ikamalhaasan should regret for his remarks on Hinduism and apologize. Abusing Hindu Religion in front of Muslim Voters is nothing but begging of Votes. @AmitShah@narendramodi — Chowkidar (மக்கள் காவலர்) Narayanan Thirupathy (@Narayanan3) May 13, 2019

Actor Kamalahasan recalling Gandhi’s assassination now and calling it Hindu terrorism is condemnable.Standing amidst minorities in TN by-election campaign he is lighting a dangerous fire to gain votes by minority appeasement.kamal didn’t opine on recent Srilanka bomb blast why? — Chowkidar Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (@DrTamilisaiBJP) May 13, 2019

Uttering nonsense in a sensitive subject violating poll code of conduct let us hope for EC to handle with all sense as per law of the land against hate speech? https://t.co/sJdlDvO1KF — Chowkidar Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (@DrTamilisaiBJP) May 13, 2019

Dear Kamal sir, you are a great artist. Just like art has no religion, terror has no religion either! You can say Ghodse was a terrorist, why would you specify ‘Hindu’ ? Is it because you were in a Muslim dominated area looking for votes? @ikamalhaasanhttps://t.co/Hu3zxJjYNb — Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) May 13, 2019

Beware.. @ikamalhaasan is really going to be poison. Did he ever talked about Muslim terrorism? Did he ever criticize any terrorist's attack? This 'Hindu terrorism' phrase is the new cheap trick, for these kind of "actors", to get minority's support — Krishna Muralidharan (@imkri) May 13, 2019

However, there were those who defended Hassan’s stance.

“So, according to BJP, Godse was a peace activist. Great,” said one commentator. Another said there was nothing wrong with calling the murderer of “the Father of the Nation” a terrorist, adding, “If you don't want to hear words like ‘Hindu Terrorism’ pls stop saying Muslim terrorists either.”

BJP demands the arrest of Kamal Haasan over his remark that #MahatmaGandhi's assassin #NathuramGodse was independent India's first terrorist.So, according to BJP, Godse was a peace activist. Great..👏👏#Godse#KamalHinduTerrorJibe#KamalHaasan — Khushboo (@KhushbooTweets) May 13, 2019

If you could call a community "terrorist" who murdered PM of India. It's not wrong calling a person "terrorist" who murdered Father of nation. If you don't want to hear words like "Hindu Terrorism" pls stop saying musilm terrorists either. Equality can't be leveled with equity. — Rahul Ramesh (@imrahulramesh) May 13, 2019

Haasan’s remarks on political violence by Hindus isn’t the first time he’s landed in hot water. In 2017, the ruling party branded the actor “myopic and brazen” when he suggested some Hindu groups had embraced extremism.

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