Kamal Haasan is going to announce the name of his political party on Wednesday
Highlights
- Kamal Haasan blames Tamil Nadu government for ignoring the farm sector
- He plans to unveil his governance model next week before his state tour
- He will also announce his political party's name at the same event
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan, prepping for his first political meeting next Wednesday, has blamed governments in Tamil Nadu for not paying attention to the farm sector. "We are attempting to bury farming and the farmer," the actor has lamented, underlining that the state's rural belt dependent on agriculture would be a key focus area of his yet-to-be-launched political party.
Mr Haasan, 63, a vocal critic of the ruling AIADMK government, had recently conceded that he was tired of complaining about governmental inaction and wanted to re-craft the polity in Tamil Nadu.
He is expected to give people a glimpse of how he intends to achieve this ambitious objective when he unveils his governance model next week and launch his mega tour of the state. He will also announce his political party's name at the same event.
In his political column in Tamil weekly 'Ananda Vikatan that appeared today, Mr Hassan only broadly outlined the outcome that he hoped to deliver and the potential that existed in the state.
"My journey towards prosperous villages has begun," he wrote after spelling out the basic challenges that the state's farm sector faced.
Mr Haasan, who has spoken of his plans to not taking fresh acting assignments once he immerses himself into politics, complained that the agricultural department didn't work on the ground but only in government files, mostly to document the losses and failures in the sector.
"Agricultural department is not working... only on paper and documents to ascertain the losses and failure in agriculture rather than working on developing it," he said.
"We can transform villages into heaven on earth. We can turn our farmers and their soil priceless," the actor wrote, declaring that he wanted to make Tamil Nadu's villages "heaven on earth".
Mr Haasan spoke about blending traditional farming practices with technology and referred to his meetings with Indian entrepreneurs he had reached out to during his United States visit. "Indian entrepreneurs in the US ready to invest their expertise in Tamil Nadu's villages," he said.
During his US visit, Mr Haasan had urged people of Indian origin to help transform Tamil Nadu rather than turn farm land into real estate properties and engineering colleges.