Days after Tamil actor Kamal Haasan's comment on Hindu terror snowballed into a controversy, with Hindu Mahasabha leader even saying that the actor must be shot dead for his remarks, Kamal now has support from the neighbouring state.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the threat by the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha national Vice President Ashok Sharma on Saturday, saying that such statements were a threat to the actor's freedom of speech and expression.
Calling the organisation 'religious fanatics,' Pinarayi said:
"Such religious fanatics & radical minds issuing murder/assassination threats should be immediately arrested by the concerned authorities and stringent legal action is needed against these persons who threatened to kill Kamal Haasan."
In a Facebook post, the CM said that everybody knows what happened to Mahatma Gandhi, Pansare, Dhabolkar, Kalburgi, Gauri Langesh, adding:
"Any move to further add names to that series by such draconian forces has to be opposed and terminated immediately. I strongly condemn anyone following any religion or caste or gender resorting to terrorism to accomplish their communal agenda to spread unrest in society and destabilise the country."
The controversy erupted a few days back, when Kamal Haasan’s column, that spoke about how the right wing is resorting to violence, was published in Tamil magazine Vikatan.
Alleging that terrorism has now spread to the Hindu camp, the actor wrote, “Earlier, the Hindu right would not personally indulge in violence, but instead through their debates they would incite their opponents to violence. But once this tactic failed, they started using muscle power instead of dialogue. They too have started using violence. They can no longer challenge saying 'Can you show me a Hindu Terrorist?'”
In fact, the actor was responding to Pinarayi Vijayan's question- published in the same magazine- about the growth of Hindutva powers and how it is weakening the Dravidian tradition.