Don't seek my opinion on Sabarimala issue: Kamal Haasan

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Saturday refused to be drawn into the Sabarimala controversy, saying it won't be proper to seek an opinion from him on the matter.

The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder-president said he would prefer to "stay in the centre" and talk about things benefiting women.

The veteran actor, a self-declared rationalist, said he has never been to Sabarimala though he had visited other temples.

"It won't be proper to seek an opinion from me on this matter. I will stay in the centre and say about things good for women. I don't understand the (Ayyappa) devotees' stand. So it is better not to interfere in that," he told reporters.

When asked about the Supreme Court verdict not being "respected" by Kerala in this case or by Karnataka in the Cauvery water dispute with Tamil Nadu, Haasan shot back saying "one can't say Kerala (government) is not respecting" the judgement.

"It is a different thing if people don't respect it," he said in an apparent reference to the stiff resistance and protests by Ayyappa devotees at Sabarimala to the entry of women into the shrine.

"In Karnataka, the government is not respecting and in this case, people are not respecting. There is a difference between the two," he added.

Kerala has been witnessing protests against the entry of girls and women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala temple since the government had said it would abide by the ruling of the apex court.

The agitation intensified since the shrine was opened for the five-day monthly puja on October 17.

On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the centuries-old ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.

To a question on reports of MNM's possible alliance with the Congress for next year's Lok Sabha polls, Haasan said it was "too early" to talk about it.

Internal discussions were going on in the party about MNM facing the parliamentary elections, Haasan added.