Rajinikanth asks fans to not 'pain' him with appeals to join politics

A day after thousands of fans and supporters organised a protest in Chennai urging Rajinikanth to reconsider his decision to opt out of politics, the veteran actor has once again firmly reiterated his decision to stay away from active politics. The actor, in an emotional and strongly worded statement shared on his Twitter page on Monday, said that such moves only “pain” him.

The 70-year old superstar who recently called it quits even before his political entry, asked his fans not to pressurise him again and again and that he had clearly put out the reason why he dropped his political plans. "I have explained reasons for my inability to enter into active politics in detail. I have conveyed my decision. Please don't pain me again and again asking me to enter politics by organising such events," he said in the statement. While thanking the fans and others for holding such a protest event in a disciplined and dignified way, he also thanked those who did not participate in the event, understanding his situation.

Rajinikanth’s statement reconfirms that the actor has clearly dropped his plans of getting into active politics and is also a reflection of the pressure exerted on him by a section of his fans and others. Recently, senior journalists Malan Narayanan wrote a column in Thuglak, a magazine founded by Cho Ramasamy and run by RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy, urging Rajinikanth to reconsider his decision. Following this, the rally organised by his fans was held at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai on Sunday, despite the Rajini Makkal Mandram warning them against such events.

Sources say that a section of Rajinikanth’s well wishers are clearly upset with him dropping his political plans and were continuously pushing him through all external means to get into politics. After returning from Hyderabad where he was hospitalised, Rajinikanth had said that it was a warning from god to take care of his health.