Rajinikanth at the centre of a political controversy, again

As the time for the 2021 elections draws near, political heat in Tamil Nadu is spreading across all its zones, from cinema to politics to religion. Of course, a combination of two of these fields has always been the mainstay of people in public life in this southern state.

Once again, Superstar Rajinikanth has been dragged into a controversy, this time by the Congress party. One of the Grand Old Party's MPs, Jothimani, (who defeated the well-known AIADMK leader M Thambidurai from Karur constituency in 2019 elections) has questioned the silence of the Tamil film icon on the issue of reservations for OBC students in medical colleges under the all-India quota.

The Centre has firmly denied reservations, while the State has asked for 50 per cent reservation for the OBC category. The Supreme Court has directed the State to refer the matter to HC. The Congress party is irritated with the matinee idol for being complicit with the Centre's anti-reservation stance.

In fact, Jothimani criticized the star for having been prompt in supporting the AIADMK government which worked swiftly and got a few controversial posts removed on a Hindu devotional song. Recently, the social media was agog with a group called ' Karuppar Koottam' which disparaged the devotional song sung in praise of Lord Karthikeya ( also known as Murugan in Tamil Nadu) and a few YouTube videos were posted, which apparently led to more religious conflict and counterarguments.

Obviously, this did go down well with the Congress who have often accused Rajinikanth of being a covert BJP supporter.