Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president and candidate for Coimbatore South Haasan fought the ‘outsider’ tag unto the last hours of the campaign on Sunday.
Accompanied by Agila Indiya Samathuva Makkal Katchi principal deputy general secretary and actor Raadhika Sarathkumar, Mr. Haasan campaigned at Amman Kulam, Kamarajapuram and Kotaimedu before winding up his campaign at Kembatty Colony.
He said he chose to contest from Coimbatore South to demonstrate the fact that India is a plural society.
“For me, diversity and plurality are not mere words. I wanted to show them in deeds. That is why I chose to contest from here,” he said.
Mr. Haasan said the MNM was the first party from Tamil Nadu to have filed a case in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Solutions to problems would have to be found through legal means, not through violence, he said.
At Kotaimedu, he said he wondered what impact outstation campaigners would have on voters when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister campaigned in Coimbatore. “I also wondered what is the language he would use to reach out to voters. It was because they did not have this understanding they flung stones,” he said.
To those charging him with exaggerating the stone-throwing incident, he said that even a bullet was small, and it was those small bullets that killed protesters at Thoothukudi.
At other places, Mr. Haasan said he would remain engaged with the voters by opening offices at all 19 wards of the constituency.
Ms. Raadhika said the source of all corruption could be traced to Gopalapuram [the place of residence in Chennai of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi] as she had been closely associated with those who lived there. The MNM’s campaign, unlike others, was decent and honest and the parties in the alliance were proud of conducting a decent campaign, she said.
Published - April 05, 2021 01:34 am IST
