A defamation case was filed against actor Kamal Haasan in Varanasi on Friday, a day after he alleged that the Hindu right wing had started resorting to violence and terrorism.
In a column for the Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, the actor wrote that earlier “the Hindu right wing would not indulge in violence, but instead had debates”. But once this tactic failed, he added, “they started using muscle power instead of dialogue”.
The column was in response to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had asked Haasan for his opinion on the communalism and backwardness that was entering Tamil Nadu politics.
In response, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked the actor to apologise. “Kamal Haasan should apologise and take his words back, said party spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathi. “In reality, there is peace because Hindus are in a majority.”
The BJP’s national spokesperson, GVL Narasimha Rao, said Haasan has joined the ranks of Congress leader Chidambaram and Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed by making such remarks.
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