Chennai: Kamal Haasan has defended Vetrimaaran, the National Award-winning Tamil director who stirred controversy by asserting that Raja Raja Chola was not a Hindu king. He raised a few eyebrows when Vetrimaaran added, ‘It all began at an event I attended,’ which caused him to raise his eyebrows ‘BJP is attempting to steal our identity even though Raja Raja Chozlan wasn’t a Hindu. Saffronizing Thiruvalluvar has already been attempted. That should never be permitted’.
Following that, Kamal Hassan expressed the same thoughts and added, ‘Raja Raja Chola’s reign was the first time the term ‘Hindu faith’ was used. In order to refer to all of these religions collectively, including Vainavam, Shaivam, and Samanam, the British invented the name ‘Hindu’. The transformation of Thuthukudi into Tuticorin is analogous to this one. ‘Ponniyin Selvan: 1’, a movie based on a fictional novel that was inspired by Raja Raja Chola, was released the day before Vetrimaaran’s comments.
Even though Mr. Haasan did support Vetrimaaran, the BJP criticised the filmmaker. Raja Raja Chola was a Hindu ruler, according to BJP leader H Raja. He asked Vetrimaaran questions ‘Vetrimaaran may be more knowledgeable about history than I am, but I’ll let him mention the two churches and mosques Raja Raja Chola built. He went by the name Sivapadha Sekaran. Then, wasn’t he a Hindu?’
In Tamil Nadu, news of a statement about Raja Raja Chola has already made headlines. After criticising the king in 2019, film filmmaker PA Ranjith caused a stir. He declared at the time that Dalits suffered greatly during the rule of the former king. According to him, ‘Many sorts of caste persecution had started under Raja Raja Chola’s reign, and land had been stolen from them forcibly’.
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