Kamal Haasan said the hands in the flag of his new political party stood for the states in south India.
After months of build-up actor
Kamal Haasan launched his new party
"Makkal Needhi Maiam" at a gala event in Madurai, attended, among others, by
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Unveiling the party flag at the meet, attended by tens of thousands of his fans, Mr Haasan said it was the result of "all of our anger boiling".
The anger he referred to was against the ruling AIADMK government, whose policies he had vocally criticized since the death of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Last year, Mr Haasan promised a party with a difference, but one that would be close to the Dravidian ideology.
The flag he unveiled on Wednesday, encapsulated his political thoughts.
On a white background, the flag's central motif shows six hands holding each other to form a perfect circle.
The colour-coding - black, white and splashes of red -- was significant. All three are identified with the Dravidian movement -- outlined in the 1920s by Periyar EV Ramasamy -- and are part of the flags of the AIADMK and the DMK, the two big parties which have dominated the politics of the state for decades.
Asked what the flag stood for, Mr Haasan, who was dressed in black and white, said the six hands were the "six south Indian states... The star in the centre is the people," indicating a political aspiration that went beyond the state. The name of the party -- "Makkal Needhi Maiam", which roughly means People's Justice Centre - also reinforced the Dravidian ideology, which had the welfare of people at its heart.
Explaining the party's orientation, Mr Haasan said it could not be tagged as leaning towards the left or right. "I'm the Centre," he said, adding this was the party's name also included the word "Centre".
Citing a Tamil proverb of "Oru Soru," which means a small example of a whole lot, he said the launch was the first step for "makkal atchi" or people's rule.