Thiruvananthapuram: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan might stand on different sides of the ideological aisle, but that hasn’t stopped Haasan from offering high praise for the veteran Marxist leader.
Speaking at an event in Thiruvananthapuram to mark the Kerala government’s fourth anniversary, Haasan Wednesday said that despite ideological differences, both he and Pinarayi are “comrades” in serving the people. “Whatever the ideologies may be, if he is a communist and I a centrist, we are comrades in serving people. The time has come when differences in ideologies are fading, as people are the ideology,” Haasan said.
In another sign of Haasan’s growing camaraderie with Vijayan, he also appeared in a documentary, Pinarayi: The Legend, produced by the CPI(M)-backed Kerala Secretariat Employees Association (KSEA), which was launched at the Wednesday event.
The 30-minute documentary, directed by Althaf Rahman, advocates a third term for Pinarayi’s government in Kerala.
Haasan said people should not be afraid to appreciate leaders like Vijayan, who are not afraid of criticism. “I wish, out of my own selfishness, that he remains happy and healthy, more so for the welfare of the state. He must agree to it and keep himself healthy. Kerala must grow to keep him elated.”
“I have all the confidence and evidence that Kerala will grow to become a leader state, and there is a healthy rivalry, almost a jealousy, from Tamil Nadu toward Kerala. We will reach there soon,” he added.
Haasan, founder of the Tamil Nadu-based Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), is a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led alliance in Tamil Nadu, which includes the Congress and Left parties. However, in Kerala, the Congress and the Left are rivals. The DMK has allocated one Rajya Sabha seat to Haasan’s MNM, which he founded in 2018. With this support from the DMK, Kamal Haasan is set to enter the Rajya Sabha for the first time.
Haasan shares a cordial relationship with both the film and political fraternities in Kerala.
In November 2023, during the inauguration of Kerala government’s Keraleeyam event, Haasan had said he sought advice from Pinarayi in 2017 before taking the political plunge. He also noted the Kerala model of development and its strong local bodies, championed by the 1996 People’s Plan Movement, were his inspiration for “people-centric politics”.
Pinarayi: The Legend begins by describing Pinarayi as a politician without parallel in Kerala’s political history. It also underscores that Vijayan was able to achieve a historic second term in the state, something not achieved by communist veterans like E.M.S. Namboodiripad, V.S. Achuthanandan and E.K. Nayanar.
It goes on to chronicle his political and personal journey from his early days as a student leader to his tenure as Kerala’s Electricity Minister during the 1996 E.K. Nayanar government.
The documentary highlights Vijayan’s role in maintaining peace during the 1971 Thalassery riots and revisits his speech in the Kerala Assembly in 1975, where he held up the blood-stained shirt he wore while in police custody after his arrest during the Emergency.
The documentary ends with a statement, “Pinaryi should continue.”
Pinarayi Vijayan said at the anniversary event that events like these and the massive public participation underlined the public’s support for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
“It’s not my abilities alone that resulted in any of this. I am the product of my party. The party has evolved over the years. I am grateful that I worked for the party and did whatever it needed,” he said, adding that the love shown by the Association through the documentary was for the party and the government.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)