The actor who is worshiped in the temples of South as a God, Rajnikanth on the new year eve announced his official entry into the politics. Rajnikanth has been politically active in the state since 1989. He backed the DMK Tamil Maanila Congress combine in 1996 defeating AIADMK. He also made it to the headlines in the political category when the South Indian actor kept a one day fast for Kaveri issue. Then in 2008, he took part in hunger strike condemning the Karnataka government’s stand on Hogenakkal and later he active participation in the politics was underlined when he backed Anna Hazare offering his marriage hall for free to protesters.
On 31 Dec 2017 Rajnikanth marked the last day of the year as a turning point in the politics of Tamil Nadu by officially announcing his entry into the political arena. On Sunday, the 67-year-old actor had announced that he would contest all 234 seats in the next Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu as an independent candidate and would launch a political party soon.
The two main reasons for the announcement now was that few other actors including Kamal Haasan, Vishal and Vijay also have given multiple indications of joining the politics and now the Rajni fans were losing patience. It was a now or never situation for the actor. The second main reason for the announcement at this time was the results of the RK Nagar polls. The spectacular victory of TT Dhinakaran clearly revealed a vacuum in the state politics, with the AIADMK and the DMK weakened and voters eager for a new and dynamic leader.
On the second day of his debut in politics, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth has launched a website and a mobile application ‘urging people to join him’ to fight corruption. He posted a video on Twitter which featured him saying that he has created the website to bring like-minded volunteers together. Giving further information he added that the volunteers have to register on the website using their voter ID number.
Speaking in the video he said “I thank all those who welcomed my decision to enter politics. This is an important announcement. I want to bring together all the fans who are registered with different associations, the ones who haven’t registered and the common people who want to see a good change in Tamil Nadu politics. So I’ve created a website rajinimandram.org. Please register with your name, voter ID and become a member. Let us together bring a change in Tamil Nadu politics. Long live people of Tamil Nadu!
The decision of Rajni joining the politics has left many in different state of mind. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu BJP welcomed Rajinikanth’s decision to start a political party. State president of the party Tamilisai Soundararajan praised him for initiating his efforts for removing corruption in Tamil Nadu.
On the other hand, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy taking a dig at the South Indian actor called him illiterate and a media hype. In his statement to the media, Swamy said that “He has only announced that he is entering politics. He had no details or documents. He is illiterate. It is only media hype. The people of Tamil Nadu are intelligent.” He also said that he will expose Rajnikanth in front of the people of Tamil Nadu who are trusting him.
Speaking to reporters, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said, “Rajini is an uneducated man. What will he tell us? This is a just an age-old story of another Tamil actor joining politics. I will always oppose Rajinikanth.” He also added that “This is a joke, Tamil Nadu requires something serious. The mood in Tamil Nadu is to get rid of all the film stars in politics. Rajini is entering politics at the wrong time and place. He should be worried, in fact, that all his black money trail will come into the limelight. The people of Tamil Nadu will not fall into Rajini fan clubs’ song and dance. Fans club cannot become a political outfit.”