Do Six Hands In Kamal’s Party Symbol Indicate His Ambition To Grab The Regional States?

Do the six hands in Kamal Haasan’s party symbol signify that he is ambitious to grab more political opportunities than what he can with two hands?

While launching Makkal Needhi Maiam (People’s Justice Centre), the actor-turned politician made it clear that the party’s ideology is neither Left nor Right. He revealed that his party’s symbol represents the six states of south India—Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and possibly Union Territory Puducherry.

“People ask me what is this 'Maiam?', and if I am on the left or the right? That is why I kept the name 'Maiam', which means centre,” he said while explaining the party’s name and the ideological leaning.

However, the six hands holding onto one another in a circle on the flag elicited much curiosity.

Kamal explained: “If you look closely, you will find the map of new south India. The six hands stand for the six states. The six stars represent you and people's justice (sic),” he said.

The immediate reaction of political observers in the north was panic. Writer Kanchan Gupta tweeted: “This reported comment by @ikamalhaasan can only mean one of two things:

1.      He believes the South has seceded from India.
2. He will attempt the secession of the South from India.
Which can only mean one of two things:
1. He is frightfully stupid.
2. He is outright dangerous.”

But the symbol speaks loud that Haasan is ambitious, with an urge to become a force to reckon with all the five southern states outside his core constituency Tamil Nadu.

Sixty-three-year-old Kamal, who enjoys equal influence in the all the southern film industries with working knowledge of 5 languages, can’t be blamed if he thinks he could fly his party’s flag high in these states.

This unsaid ambition is probably what sets his party apart from other regional parties, majority of whose leaders are bound by the language boundary.

Also striving to be different from the Dravidian parties that have dominated Tamil Nadu politics, his party's name does not have the suffix Katchi or Kazhagam that have been always been in Dravidian politics. Even his public pronouncements are designed to appeal to the entire south.

While regional leaders usually extract political mileage through inter-state tensions, Haasan yesterday projected a more diplomatic line in talking about Tamil Nadu's spats with Karnataka over the Cauvery river water dispute.

Cauvery river dispute that could be a challenge for a politician trying to gain a foothold in the riparian states. He said fair dialogue can solve the problem.

“People ask me what is my solution to the Cauvery issue. I have answered this before. The problem is there is so much politicisation of the issue, there needs to be a fair dialogue.”

Kamal’s representation of the five southern states in his party logo has come at a time when there has been strong sentiments in south India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, against the Centre’s alleged Hindi, Sanskrit imposition and cow politics.  

The south versus north suggestion in Kamal’s politics also assumed significance particularly against the backdrop of Prime Minister Modi and the ruling BJP’s aggressive push to make inroads into south – particularly to make up for the losses in the northern state where they have reaches a saturation point.

At the party launch, Kamal did not miss the Tamil language question. “Happily speak Tamil,” he said to a cheering audience.

Kamal also disclosed that he admired two chief ministers of the south Indian states Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, Pinarayi Vijayan and Chandrababu Naidu respectively. Pinarayi Vijayan addressed the event through video conferencing, while Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been keeping good rapport with Kamal, was present on the stage.