Ban on Kaala by K’taka over Cauvery elevates Rajini’s stature in TN

A day after his stand-off with  the Dravidian dominated media in Chennai and making most of the Tamil Nadu politicians lose their sleeps by his plain speaking, actor Rajinikanth  moved one more inch towards his superstardom in politics. The move by the film exhibitors in Karnataka not to release “Kaala” the latest movie starring Rajinikanth over his stance on the Cauvery issue has come as a blessing in disguise for Thalaivar (Tamil for leader, as Rajinikanth is addressed by fans).

Rajinikanth had asked the new Karnataka Government led by the JD(S) and the Congress to allot Tamil Nadu the due share of Cauvery waters as per the directive of the Supreme Court. Interestingly, Rajnikanth was the only personality in Tamil Nadu to directly ask the Karnataka administration to release the Cauvery waters while the leaders of the DMK, the Congress and the Lefts attended the swearing in of HD Kumaraswamy as the Karnbataka Chief Minister and returned to Chennai without mentioning the K word.

When Rajinikanth made his political plans known to the outside world on the new year ever, political Tamil Nadu had questioned his capability to lead a political party  in the Dravidian forte. “Rajinikanth has not even spelled out anything about the party or its name or its flag. He doesn’t take any stand .While so , how can we even say he would have any impact?” Ramu Manivannan, head of the department of politics, Madras University had asked at that time.

But events of the last three weeks have shown that he is  the only political person in Tamil Nadu to speak about Cauvery and Sterlite with poise, said many political commentators in the State.