Why Hasan?
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In the land of nakedness, underwear is the king
Tamil Nadu is the most unique land in India — be its origin, literature, or history. Had it been not part of the federated setup, it’d have been the richest intellectual and innovative terrain in the region if not in the world. Folklores in the world always talk about those royals, warriors, legends, victories, etc., etc. It’s impossibly unbelievable in Tamil Nadu that folklores talk about Tamil, the language itself.
Reasons probably being — they do not belong to a man-made religion or a politically lingual identity — Tamils, a race themselves like other races such as Afro-Africans, Arabs, Caucasians, Greeks, Jews, Mayans or Mongols. Nowhere in the world but Tamil Nadu or Germany — the endless debate or its very existence of Aryans does exist.
This land is as much fanatic as the French is when it comes to their language. Tamil unlike other languages is not only a lingual tool here but also a legitimate lighthouse in life — when you learn its literatures and the values that they offer. You need not do a Masters’ degree or a Doctorate in political science to rule or govern Tamil Nadu. The language itself holds the best political principles and practices to be a great leader. That’s pretty much the historical facts or hyperbole to start with.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time — Abraham Lincoln
If Tamil Nadu can interpret this great statement, then the solutions to their 50-year political pandemic must be around the corner. Dravidian philosophy is a misled concept in this land as the political power center during mid-19th century ruled by all the Southern lingual groups besides Tamil — as Madras was the Capital of South India and the most lucrative and popular industry — filmmaking was predominantly conducted in the city. Most investors in the film industry here post the British era were across the Southern States, lingually bifurcated then.
The rationale behind coining a term ‘Dravidian’ was to keep the money flow from the Southerners — into film productions, dramaturgy — without any interruption. Films then as social media today were an ideal platform to propagate propaganda and political views. Unlike other world cinema, Tamil or films made in Madras those days depicted and reflected those tales, fables, and epics in Tamil literature written and sewed into the locals’ thoughts, minds — if not in genes. People with political aspirations played the Tamil literature inside the scripts and the Dravidian label on the outside — two birds in one stone.
If you’ve ice on hand; cake on the table — icing on the cake is fun, isn’t it?
Tamil literature is so addictive and decisive that you can convince anyone in Tamil Nadu that you’re an intellect and an honest person if you can fluently render those memorized couplets or short poems or anything in its literati. One cannot verify or qualify what those so-called Tamil genii explain after the breathless intonation. Oratory is different from administrative and management skills. The state in the past have witnessed many a leader who couldn’t speak or write or read the language as good as a common man — yet they were the champions of the downtrodden with great administrative skills in implementing social policies successfully.
In the current crop of leaders who are in the race to the chair, Kamal Hasan seems to be the best option to ride on. Politics can be an option or a passion or a profession or a business or a job, but governance is not so. To govern people or a piece of land, commitment and integrity are the core skills. Had Hasan had strategized his creative, lucrative career towards politics — he’d have again been leading the political show today as he did in films then. His interests towards the current scheme of politics in the State purely does not seem to be an opportunistic entry but an altruistic one.
Success breeds success
Mr. Hasan seems to be the most successful and proven leader in the State today, who one can think of — to lead them from the front. In management practices, a person who’s proven his or her skills, expertise, or capabilities in one department or line of business will automatically be a choice to be promoted and positioned to replicate the same success stories and secrets in other domains or departments as well. Mr. Hasan being a multi-talented personality in his default or chosen profession and most successful, the elctorates must consider him for the titular role in the first place; sure he would be able to reproduce the same learning methodology in governance as well.
His personal life being in public records from the beginning, following and predicting his actions and reactions post elected will again publicly be easier for the State — forget if he would abuse his power in the first place. Having taken Tamil cinema to the next level of creativity and different economy of scale unlike other Southern industries — he would certainly be able to pull it off as the State Head ensuring her autonomous political affairs.
He seems to be the man of masses and can cut across all sections of the society, which shall be a good connector to empower and effectively build public distribution system. Being a not-so-family man, the family loot that has been common across all the political outfits across India may not exist if he’s around. Health is one of the core attributes to elect your leaders. Mr. Hasan seems to fit the bill to a tee when it comes to both physical and mental health among the current crop of contestants.
In the land of blinds, the one-eyed can also be the king
Tamil Nadu is one of the top four tax-paying states in India and not so much funded as it pays, by the federal budgets. The State has been footing the bill for those non-performing States in the Northern regions of the country for a long time. There was one leader from Tamil Nadu who could finger the Central and its policies was Late Jayalalithaa Jayaram. Only surprise element in her team building exercise was her choice of soldiers aka ministers.
If you do not want Tamil Nadu to be a subservient state to the Center without a dominant representation; or if you want to save Tamil Nadu’s public and business money from some family loots; or if you do not want Tamil Nadu to be a separate country or a rebel state — then you must not think twice to elect Kamal Hasan who can build an economically empowered, a culturally inclusive, a bureaucratically transparent, and nationally a participating state.
You don’t have to always wait for the ‘Sun’ to shine and make hay..
