CHENNAI: Actor Kamal Haasan on Monday denied having criticised the State government on the flood relief works and said he had not raised questions on what had happened to the income tax paid by him.
The actor further said that he had not given any interview to any media and what had appeared in a section of the Tamil media was an approximate translation of a letter written in English to a North Indian friend. The letter was just a lamentation about the disaster that had struck Tamil Nadu and the suffering of the people and did not contain anything about the State government.
There was no paper to his house and the telecom links were inconsistent. “I came to know about the controversy only from friends as I rarely use Facebook, too. I did not give any reply, as I thought that the truth will come out on its own. I was concentrating on giving directions to fans club members on flood relief works. I thought that I can reply to the controversy later. Now, I realise that it was a mistake,” the actor said.
Clarifying that it was not a reply to the statement of State Minister O Panneerselvam, he said it was meant to avoid confusion among his fan club members who were involved in flood relief works. “My fan club has members from several religions and rationalists. This is the time to rise above parties, religions and individual anger. If my words have hurt anyone, it is my duty to seek an apology. My friends who are supporting me and those who are criticising me should do their relief works. Whichever the ruling party is, my fans club is working along with it for the last 36 years. I have not joined any party and cooperating with everyone only for continuing my service for the sake of joy.”