Kamal Haasan's political journey to begin at Kalam House

Kamal Haasan will start his political journey from former president A P J Abdul Kalam’s house on February 21. He will tour his home district Ramanathapuram and nearby Sivaganga before addressing a public meeting at Madurai.

According to the itinerary released on Saturday, Kamal Hassan will arrive at Kalam’s house at 7.45am and visit the late President’s school at 8.15am. He would meet fishermen at Ganesh Mahal at 8.50am before arriving at Kalam Memorial at Peikarumbu at 11.10am. After ten minutes at the memorial, he will head for Madurai.

Fishermen leaders at Rameswaram said that they were yet to get any communication about the meeting. “We will meet him once we get the invite for the sake of courtesy,” said fishermen leader B Jesuraja. Fishing community leaders like him wondered where Kamal was last year when they were tormented in the dispute with Sri Lanka. Even small outfits and political parties had shown solidarity with fishermen of Rameswaram. “Let us see what Kamal is up to,” Jesuraja said.


After leaving Rameswaram, Kamal Hassan will address public meetings at Ramanathapuram palace, Paramakudi and Manamadurai at 12.30, 2.30pm and 3pm. He is scheduled to arrive at the public meeting spot at Y Othakadai by 5pm and hoist his party’s flag by 6 pm. While the public meeting is setto begin at 6.30 pm and Kamal is likely to address the gathering only around 8.10pm.

On Saturday, the actor called on senior CPI leader R Nallakannu, ahead of taking the political plunge.

For decades, even before Independence, Madurai had been the hotbed of various political developments. Even Mahatma Gandhi took one of the most significant decisions in his life — of changing his attire to that of a peasant — at Madurai during his visit to the city in 1921. Several other famous political leaders and freedom fighters, including former Tamil Nadu chief minister K Kamaraj, commenced their political journey at Madurai, recalled veteran politician N Pandurangan, 80, an elderly Congress worker. “Kamal comes with atheist background when the political realm including in TN is religion-based. He also lacks the student support like what C N Annadurai had when he was at loggerheads with the Congress in 1967. It is going to be tough,” he said.