Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan.PR Handout

The controversy surrounding Kamal Haasan's comments on Hindu extremism is refusing to die down: The Madras High Court has now asked the Tamil Nadu Police to file a complaint against the Ulaganayagan, but only if cognisable offences are made out against him. 

According to petitioner G Devarajan, Kamal Haasan's comments project all the Hindus as terrorists, and his comments on the Hinduism and secularism were disrupting communal harmony.

"By making such statements Kamal Haasan is trying to brand Hindus as terrorists. He should understand that no religion preaches violence but only peace. The actor with vested interests is trying to divide the Tamil community on the basis of religion," ANI quoted the petitioner as saying.

"Today, he says the Hindus are terrorists. It will be no wonder if the next day he calls the Christians or Muslims directly as terrorists," the petitioner was quoted as saying by the Hindu.  

He claimed the police had failed to take action against the actor although complaints were filed against him at Thousand Lights and Teynampet police stations.

Kamal Haasan had written in a recent column: "Earlier, Hindu rightists used have just intellectual debates with those of differing views through which they provoked their opponents to violence. With the approach failing to yield desired result, people have resorted to violence. The extremism has now spread among the Hindus as well."

The Vishwaroopam star came under attack from the RSS, the BJP and several right-wing groups. He was criticised for his comments, received from death threats and was slapped with lawsuits.

The petitioner also wanted the court to direct the police to take action against the editor of the Tamil magazine that published this column.

The case had come up for hearing on November 16 and the petition was adjourned for one week.