A complaint has been filed against actor Kamal Haasan by an activist, a day after he urged his fans not to distribute nilavembu kudineer until scientific research is done.
G Devarajan, an activist, who filed a complaint with the Chennai police commissioner on Thursday, stating, “Kamal Haasan has expressed his opposition in a manner which can instigate violence. He has used people’s fears to his advantage. By doing this, he has committed a crime and instigated people from Tamil Nadu.”
His complaint goes on to state, “He is creating fear among people because he does not like the government. With this, he has proved that he is a horrible actor. He is also proved that he is anti-Tamil Nadu.”
Devarajan added that Kamal Haasan is playing political games and trying to break the faith of people over Siddha. Questioning the star over what he had done in his personal capacity to bring down dengue cases, the Siddha practitioner claimed that allopathy does not have any medicines to cure dengue.
“In Tamil Nadu, right now, dengue is prevalent, allopathy does not have any medication to control or cure this disease directly. At the same time, for those suffering from dengue, siddha medicine prescribes nilavembu kudineer to increase the immunity. For the last 10 years, nilavembu kudineer has given good results for those suffering from dengue. It gives great hope and confidence to those suffering from poisonous fever and dengue fever,” Devarajan stated in the complaint.
Kamal Haasan had taken to Twitter on Wednesday urging his fans not to distribute nilavembu kudineer following reports that the core ingredient used in the concoction caused infertility. The star also tweeted to say, "It's not that the research should be done by allopathics. The traditionalists should also have done it. It is traditional for medicines to have side effects."
Speaking at a press conference in Madurai, BJP leader L Ganesan also slammed Kamal Haasan for politicising the issue. “This is not the right thing to do. I never thought that he would have a different opinion on everything so that he gets appreciated. This is not the time to do politics. If he came up with a medicine and said that a research must be done on that, I would have welcomed that move and appreciated it,” said Ganesan.
The Tamil Nadu government along with the Ayush Ministry have been pushing nilavembu kudineer, a nine-herb concoction as a treatment for dengue. However, a Times of India report had stated that according to studies the nilavembu kudineer could reduce fertility. This was based on past studies have shown that andrographis paniculata - the core herb used in the concoction - caused the sperm count in rats to decrease.