Attempts are being made to smear saffron hue on me, I won't fall for it: Rajinikanth

Actor Rajinikanth on Friday said that attempts were being made (including by some media houses) to portray him in the saffron hue, but he would not fall into that trap and it wouldn’t have any impact on him. 

His statements came while he was speaking to reporters outside his Poes Garden residence and shared his take on various issues including the raging political debate in Tamil Nadu over the politicisation of the legacy of Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar - a revered sage. 

The political tug-of-war began after Tamil Nadu BJP leaders put up posts on social media depicting the sage in saffron robes in an apparent attempt to suggest that he was a Hindu. Traditional pictures of the sage often depict him in white robes.

The incident led Dravidian politicians and members of other faiths contest the claim and state that it amounted to misappropriating Thiruvalluvar's literary and philosophical heritage. 

In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had quoted Thiruvalluvar- “neer indri amaiyadhu ulagu (the world can’t survive without water)". 

Speaking on the issue, Rajini said “Thiruvalluvar is a great saint and belongs to everyone, he is beyond caste and religion. Thiruvalluvar is a God-believer and it is understood if one reads his couplets. The BJP on Twitter had portrayed him in a saffron hue but that is their opinion and they didn’t say that all of Thiruvalluvar’s statues should be in saffron or that holy ash must be smeared.”

Rajini dismissed the political controversy over Thiruvalluvar as ‘silly’ and emphasised the issue did not deserve the kind of attention it was being given. He stated that the issues of the common man are to be focussed upon. 

Regarding his meeting with BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan and the probability of joining the BJP, the actor said, “he didn’t make any offer”.

Responding to a question on the Indian economy, Rajini said that the economic growth was in a very bad state and that the government should do everything that is needed.

When asked about his impending decision to join politics and whether he would continue acting, he responded, “I can join any party, there is nothing wrong in parties asking me to join but they shouldn’t keep depending on me. I am the only one to decide on my political foray. I will keep acting in films until I enter politics. MGR also kept acting till his party won and he became the Chief Minister”.

Rajini added that there was still a vacuum for a talented administrator in Tamil Nadu politics. 

The actor had made a mention of “spiritual politics” in the year 2017 when he had announced unifying his fan clubs under the banner ‘Rajini Makkal Mandram”. He had talked about his political debut then.

There have been various instances in the past when Rajini had expressed his appreciation for the Modi government’ and its move such as demonetization, river-interlinking project, scrapping of Article 370, 'One Nation One Poll' policy among others. 

Lauding the revocation of special status for Jammu and Kashmir, Rajini hailed the move as ‘fantastic’ and compared the Modi-Shah duo to Arjuna and Krishna, adding that, “we don’t know who is Arjuna and who is Krishna, only they (Modi and Shah) know.”