Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan hoisted the party flag at the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party office in Alwarpet, Chennai and announced the names of the office bearers of the party on Thursday. Kamal announced Ku Gnana Sambandham as the Vice President of the party, Arunachalam as the Secretary and Suresh as the Treasurer of the party.
Ahead of forming of party in February, Kamal Haasan met West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, saying he was on a “learning curve.”
While the event of hoisting of the flag was portrayed to be quite a big success as pointed by few, what prompted this to be called a success was something that surprised many. Incidents that happened on ground, proved a completely different picture otherwise.
Several on-ground reporters, that too from various Media houses (Republic TV, NewsX, MirrorNow and News18), had tweeted how the event had chocked traffic in Eldams road, which is considered one of the busiest area of Chennai. Huge banners and posters of leaders, while crowds standing atop flyovers trying to catch a glimpse of the event reeked of the existing political culture in the state which Kamal had promised to fight against.
Traffic advisory.
Eldams road is choking as @ikamalhaasan will hoist @maiamofficial party flag!!Not sure if this is necessary but looks more like a ritual for which people have to bare the brunt.
Strange that new comers who want to change the system are itself engulfed by it. pic.twitter.com/ejd3gkXMeP
— Pramod Madhav (@madhavpramod1) July 12, 2018
People standing atop Alwarpet bridge waiting for @ikamalhaasan to hoist his party flag!!
Wonder what @CCTPolice_Alert are doing!? pic.twitter.com/4gCEGL8MqC— Pramod Madhav (@madhavpramod1) July 12, 2018
Apart from traffic congestion, reports emerged that sheets of paper were passed on to MNM party cadres, asking them to perform of complete dress rehearsal of the show before the arrival of their party leader.
Translation:-
One might dismiss the above mentioned piece of paper to be fabricated which could have been printed by any one of the reporters to create a sensational claim, but the below video clearly shows how a party member of MNM is clearly training the crowd to shout the slogans mentioned in paper. This video certainly exposes the mindset of the people who seem to be calling the shots in MNM.
Training for raising slogans when #KamalHaasan hoist the flag. Ofcourse with 1..2..3..! Just Neo-Polityculturist things. #MakkalNeedhiMaiam. That slogan in reply. pic.twitter.com/eYSTKaXZzk
— Ian Malcolm aka 'K A A L I' (@MrIanMalcolm) July 12, 2018
The slogans mentioned above provides a direct reference to some of the movies/songs done by Kamal Haasan. ‘Nammavar’ is a popular movie from 1995, where Kamal Haasan plays the role of a college professor who reforms all his students while ‘God of Alwarpet’ is a peppy number used in his movie Pammal K Sambandham.
The social media team of MNM was too seen in complete action, the hash tag called #MakkalNeedhiMaiam was seen trending in Chennai and third Nationwide. Screenshots of the same were propagated all over twitter.
#MakkalNeedhiMaiam Trending in Chennai and India as Nammavar Hoists the party flag outside his Alwarpet Office. pic.twitter.com/Dmmh20rcfd
— 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘀 ✺ 𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗮 (@Mass_Maharaja) July 12, 2018
#MakkalNeedhiMaiam Trending Nationwide at No.3 now pic.twitter.com/OCZawvG9NY
— 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘀 ✺ 𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗮 (@Mass_Maharaja) July 12, 2018
The people of Tamil Nadu have been trying to seek an alternative to the filmy cult culture that has been created by politicians of the mainstream Dravidian parties, AIADMK and DMK. Unfortunately these activities of Makkal Needhi Maiam and Kamal Haasan proves to be a big disappointment even before they have begun their political innings in the state.
