Rajinikanth opposes reopening of liquor shops in Tamil Nadu

Nearly a week after the Tamil Nadu government decided to open the TASMAC liquor shops, a move now stayed by the Madras High Court, politician and film icon Rajinikanth has finally broken his silence over the issue.

While asking the AIADMK government to look for “other sources to generate income for the state”, Rajinikanth told the ruling party that it has to “stop dreaming of coming to power again” if it decides to open liquor shops in the state.

The statement by Rajinikanth, who is yet to come out clear on when he will launch his political party to fight the 2021 Assembly elections as announced earlier, comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s order to close all liquor shops that were reopened on May 7.

“The government should forget about its dream of coming to power again if it reopens TASMAC shops at this juncture. I appeal to the government to look for other sources of income to fill the coffers,” the actor wrote on his Twitter handle.

The Tamil Nadu government reopened TASMAC shops on May 7 after over 40 days but the high court struck down the move saying the conditions imposed by it were not followed at the liquor outlets. The verdict was delivered on a batch of petitions filed by advocates and a functionary of actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam.

Rajinikanth’s comments are being seen as yet another indication that he might not take the actual political plunge. In his last media interaction, the actor had spoken about emerging as an “alternative” to the two Dravidian majors – DMK and AIADMK – but put the onus on the people for him to take the political plunge.

“To talk about the dream of a party which he considers as an opponent doesn’t augur well for an aspiring politician. This is yet another indication that Rajinikanth might just not come out of his closet and take the political plunge,” a political analyst, who did not want to be named, said.