(Image source from: India Today)

South Indian actor and founder of Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) party Kamal Haasan is receiving flak over his statement that India’s first “terrorist was a Hindu,” referring to Nathuram Godse who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

Addressing an election campaign in Tamil Nadu’s Aravakurichi on Sunday, the actor-politician said he was one of those "proud Indians" who desires an India with equality and where the "three colors" in the tricolor, an obvious reference to different faiths, "remained intact."

"I am not saying this because this is a Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Free India's first terrorist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (terrorism, apparently) starts," he said.

Haasan said he had come here "seeking answers for that murder," referring to Gandhi's assassination in 1948. "Good Indians desire for equality and want the three colors in the tricolor to remain intact. I am a good Indian, will proudly proclaim that” he added.

Earlier too, Haasan was under criticism, when in November 2017, he took potshots at what he termed as "Hindu extremism," which drew condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu outfits.

Aravakurichi is one of the four Assembly constituencies where bypolls are going to take place on May 19. MNM has fielded S. Mohanraj from this segment.

By Sowmya Sangam