Actor-turned-politician and Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, who has been positioning himself as a fierce advocate of ‘Sanatan Dharma’, came out strongly in support of the three-language formula and assailed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Tamil Nadu government for its ‘duplicity’ on the issue.
“Why are they (DMK) so vehemently opposed to Hindi while seeking to dub Tamil films into Hindi to profit from the Hindi-speaking regions like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh?” said Kalyan, who has acted in over 25 movies and has massive fan following, particularly among the youth.
Questioning the tendency to oppose Hindi, the Jana Sena Party supremo said, “Why should anyone oppose Hindi? What is wrong with learning it? For that matter, what is wrong with learning as many languages as possible? We should have linguistic diversity.”
He was addressing a big rally at Pithapuram in Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, organised as part of his party’s 12th foundation day. Jana Sena is part of the Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government in the state.
Also read: Hindi imposition row: DMK protests in Lok Sabha
“There are people who are criticising Sanskrit. Don’t hate languages. All are Indian languages,” Kalyan said.
Don’t hate any language
The deputy CM said that there was no need to hate any language as the country needed all languages, including Tamil.
“I am surprised people are talking a lot about the north-south divide, caste census, delimitation, and the three-language formula. I do not think anyone has the temerity to divide a country that extends from the Himalayas, where Lord Shiva lives, to the abode of Murugan in the South,” he said.
“Let the country not be divided because of parochial political perceptions,” he added.
Calling Tamil Nadu's anti-Hindi stance as misguided, he pointed out that while tearing something down is easy, rebuilding is much more difficult. He urged the nation to prioritise unity and integrity, moving beyond north-south divides.
His comments come at a time when politics over language has become contentious, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Defending his embrace of Sanatana Dharma, Kalyan said “Sanatana Dharma is in my blood. There is no need to prove it. I have been observing religious fasts every year since the age of 14.”
Ideological metamorphosis
From an ardent admirer of socialist revolutions to a staunch supporter of Sanatan Dharma, Kalyan has come a long way. This ideological metamorphosis of the 53 year old maverick star appears more dramatic than what the script writers of his popular movies could have imagined.
From a middle class upbringing in a small Andhra town, Kalyan rose to stardom in Telugu film industry. His fans adore him as “power star” while his critics dismiss him as a maverick and mercurial person with unclear motives.
“Pawanism”, a compilation of the actor’s observations on life and society in general, has entered the lexicon of the Tollywood. A mishmash of high-sounding yet naïve and often superficial assertions, Pawanism has a loyal following, particularly among the youth.
There is a massive army of his fans, who call themselves “Pawan Sena” and turn into online warriors to defend their hero from the mocking memes and spoofs on the actor. He has 5.8 million followers on twitter.
Restless, Brooding
Kalyan is the younger brother of megastar of Telugu cinema K Chiranjeevi whose tryst with politics ended in a disaster.
Having made his debut in 1996 with “Akkada Ammayi, Ikkada Abbayi”, Pawan has a string of hits and awards under his belt. Known for his penchant for unconventional style of film making, he has produced and directed a couple of movies. He was listed by Forbes among the top 100 Indian celebrities while he was the most searched Indian personality on Google in 2014 when he had launched Jana Sena Party.
For someone who had five consecutive mega hits that earned him fame, fortune and fans, Pawan comes across as a brooding and lonely person yearning for some higher purpose in life.
In the media interviews he gave ahead of his political foray, the actor spoke about his inclination towards socialist ideology and revealed how he was awe-struck by history of socialist revolutions around the world. He made known his admiration for Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.
Pawan floated Jana Sena in March 2014 but was largely inactive and reclusive for a long time. The mercurial star had supported the NDA, saying he was a big fan of Narendra Modi. He had even campaigned for the TDP-BJP combine, a factor that played a key role in the TDP coming to power in AP.
His Jana Sena Party bombed at the ballot box in the 2019 polls. It managed to win just one assembly seat. Lack of organisational structure and absence of concrete policies and programmes were cited as the reasons for his electoral debacle.
In the last year’s assembly elections, a resurgent Jana Sena supremo played a key role in bringing the Telugu Desam Party and Bharatiya Janata Party together and forging a broader alliance which succeeded in unseating YSRCP from power.
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