CHENNAI: Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan said India doesn’t need ‘one nation, one election’ as it is ‘dangerous’, flawed and its scars still exist in some countries.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the general body meeting of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) here on Saturday. The general body of the party re-elected Kamal as its president. Without naming any party or leader, Kamal said had simultaneous polls been held in 2014 or 2015, it would have led to a complete sweep, resulting in dictatorship, loss of freedom of speech and dominance of a single leader. “You should understand that we have escaped from it...we have escaped from a disease more virulent than Coronavirus,” he said.
Though Kamal pointed to Europe and Russia when he commented on simultaneous polls, he did not specify any single country where it had failed. “What would happen if all traffic lights glow in the same colour at the same time,” he asked and said people should be given time to think and pick their choice.
Including the one opposing the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal, MNM general body, chaired by Kamal, passed a total of 16 resolutions. The party urged the Union government to lower the minimum age limit for contesting elections from 25 to 21 years.
MNM has also decided to enrol 5,000 new members in every assembly constituency across the state. Additionally, to strengthen booth-level committees for future elections, five members will be appointed to each booth committee across Tamil Nadu.
Other resolutions included calls for a caste-based census to ensure social justice and reservations, strengthening the Gram Sabha and area sabha.
Further, the MNM emphasised the need to implement a “Universal Basic Income”, a social welfare measure aimed at poverty alleviation by guaranteeing minimum income for all.
(With inputs from PTI)