: Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan on Tuesday promised a new district with Pollachi as headquarters if his party is to be voted to power. “Pollachi, which has so much potential for development needs to be a district and, MNM, if voted to power, will make it a reality,” he said in a late night interaction with the town’s residents.
The town and neighbouring region were so prosperous but had not seen the desired development. Had the rulers had the region’s interest in mind, there would have been a situation where there would be better industrialisation and youth remained there with job or business opportunity without having to move out.
“The region has seen no major development after the Parambikulam project or investment in infrastructure. This is not an accident but the type of politics that does not think of people’s welfare.”
If farmers from Pollachi, despite being from a prosperous region, were not earning profits what to think of farmers in Paramakudi, he said. This was a thought that had occurred to him while scouting for a location for the movie, Thevar Magan, and the thought transformed to anger leading to his taking a plunge into politics and forming the MNM, Mr. Haasan said and clarified that it was not the anger against the attempt to ban his film that pushed him to politics.
In fact, the MNM was a party of people who like him were angry at the state of affairs and desired to see a prosperous Tamil Nadu.
Politics for the MNM was business. “A business where people would profit. It was not a business where votes could be bought ₹2,500 or so; nor was it business where the rulers profited,” he said.
Defending the MNM’s promise to give computers for every home at no cost, Mr. Haasan said it an investment in human resource development and for the betterment of the State.
The Pollachi sexual assault case had brought bad publicity to the town so much so that it had become a market for crime. The media had established the ruling party’s connection to a few accused in the crime. This had angered the public who desired for a change, which he had sensed during his campaign in the region, he added.