After eight long years, superstar Rajinikanth met his fans Chennai on Monday, and kickstarted a series of meetings with members of his ‘rasigar mandram’, his fan club. And while addressing his fans, Rajini put a full stop on rumours that keep surfacing about his political ambitions, with the words: “I don’t support any political party.”
In fact, the superstar went a step further. Recalling his past political moves, Rajinikanth said, “I had earlier given support to a party. It was almost a political accident.” While he did not name names, Rajini was referring to his support of the DMK-TMC alliance ahead of the 1996 Assembly elections, and his speech against then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Back then, Rajinikanth had said that “even god can’t save Tamil Nadu” if Jayalalithaa and the AIADMK had been voted back to power. In December 2016, Rajini apologised for his comment following Jayalalithaa’s demise.
On Monday, the actor said, “My fans then (in 1996) even helped this party win. Following this, my name came to be associated with politics. Politicians and some of my fans began to then use each other. Even money was exchanged at that point, and some people liked he taste of money too much. After that, in subsequent elections, these people claimed that I was supporting a political party, just so they could make money. But I don't support any political party. I have been pushed to reiterate that I don't support any political party ahead of every election. I'm not a political leader or a social worker. Nobody is waiting in queue to get my support. I'm just saying it to tell people that I don't support anyone."
He also said that in case he did decide to join politics, he would keep “the wrong people” away from him. "My life is in the hands of god. I'm a tool in the hands of god, and he is using me to do his bidding. He's using me as an actor now, I'm working as an actor now. Tomorrow, whatever he decides..." Rajini trailed off.
"Whatever responsibility god gives me, I will do the job with honesty. Those who have such ambitions (political) - I would like to say this right now to you - if such a thing is not written in my fate, you will feel cheated. If there is a situation where I have to enter (politics), I will never let such people (who are interested in politics for money) even come near me," Rajini said.
Rajini also addressed his fans’ disappointment at not having met him for such a long time.
"I couldn't hold a celebration for Enthiran's success. After that, Kochadaiyaan and Kuselan didn’t do well. Kabali did well, but for some reason I could not meet my fans after that. I was planning to meet fans for 5 days and finish taking photos with all of them, but several people were not happy with that arrangement. So I postponed it. I was then busy with the dubbing for 2.0,” the actor explained.
“I’m going to start shooting my next film in a couple of weeks, so we also had to discuss the script for that,” Rajini revealed.
“Even my trip to Sri Lanka got cancelled. Following this, a lot of people accused me of constantly changing my mind. They said I was hesitant and even scared. But the reality is that I think deeply about anything that I set out to do. If you keep your leg in water and find that it has crocodiles you need to take it out. You can't show unnecessary bravado," he said.
Refuting claims that he was meeting fans as a publicity stunt ahead of his film’s release, Rajini said, “Meeting my fans is not some kind of a stunt ahead of my film's release. Thanks to your blessings, I don't need to do such things (to promote my movies). My fans and the people of Tamil Nadu won't be fooled by such allegations. A movie will only succeed if it is good."