India / Days after lashing out at Centre over Delhi violence, Rajinikanth’s offer on CAA

New Delhi: Actor and aspiring politician Rajinikanth has said that he is ready to play any role to maintain peace in the country. He made the comments on Twitter after meeting a few leaders from a Muslim outfit at his residence.

“I am willing to play any role in order to maintain peace in the country. I too agree with their (Muslim outfit leaders) comment that a country’s prime objective should be love, unity and peace,” the 69-year-old actor said in a tweet on Sunday.

Rajinikanth also assured the members of ‘Tamil Nadu Jama’athul Uama Sabai’ (TNJUS) that he would do the needful, said the outfit’s president KM Baqavi. The TNJUS members had met Rajinikanth on Sunday and apprised him of issues Muslims would face due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The actor had earlier said he would be the first person to raise voice even if a single Muslim was affected by the CAA.

He also said the central government might not withdraw the CAA as it had been passed by Parliament and okayed by the Supreme Court.

Last week, Rajinikanth had lashed out at the Centre over the violence in Delhi, saying the riots should have been dealt with an “iron fist”. In a sharp attack on the BJP-led Centre, he asked those in power to “resign and go” if the violence could not be crushed.

“It is an intelligence failure and hence home ministry also failed. Protests can happen peacefully but not in a violent manner. If violence breaks out, it should be dealt with iron hands,” the actor had said.

The comments were significant as Rajinikanth’s critics accuse him of being soft on the BJP.

He didn’t spare the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Arvind Kejriwal either and said it was equally responsible for letting the situation worsen in the capital.

His contemporary and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan endorsed Rajikanth in a tweet in Tamil and said he had chosen the right path.

“Sabash friend @rajinikanth. This path is the right path (it is) not a separate path...,” he said in an apparent reference to Rajinikanth’ famous film dialogue-- “my path is a separate path.”