Kamal Haasan’s party files complaint against minister who said his ‘tongue should be cut off’

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s party Makkal Needhi Maiam on Monday filed a police complaint against Tamil Nadu minister KT Rajendra Balaji for criminal intimidation and defamation, IANS reported.

In a complaint addressed to the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police, party General Secretary A Arunachalam alleged that Balaji had threatened violence against Haasan by saying that his tongue should be cut off for his “Hindu terrorism” remark.

The complaint alleged that in an interview to Sun TV, Balaji had defamed Haasan with baseless allegations of a nexus between his party and the Islamic State group.

He also claimed that upon Balaji’s instigation to beat Haasan, a group of people attempted to attack him in Aravakurichi constituency in Karur district on May 16. Haasan was asked to cancel his campaigning on May 17.

The Madras High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to him in this matter.

Haasan had faced backlash for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse “India’s first extremist” and for pointing out that he was a Hindu. He made the comment at a public meeting in the Aravakurichi Assembly constituency on May 13.

“Kamal Haasan’s tongue should be cut off for his remarks on Hindu terror,” Balaji, the minister for milk and dairy development, had said later that day. “He made these remarks to gain votes of minorities. We cannot blame entire community for act of one individual. The Election Commission should take action against the actor and ban his party.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindutva outfits criticised Haasan, and the saffron party urged the Election Commission to ban him from campaigning after a huge uproar.

On May 16, slippers were thrown at the actor-turned-politician when he was addressing an election meeting in the Thiruparankundram Assembly constituency. Earlier that day, Haasan had said that his comment was a “historical truth”.