Am Returning Donations Sent For My Party, Writes Kamal Haasan

New Delhi: Weeks after he announced that his fan clubs had helped raise 30 crores to assist the needy, Kamal Haasan has said he is returning the donations sent to him for his yet-to-be launched party. The 63-year-old actor in his weekly column for a Tamil newsmagazine said that "it'll be illegal to keep the money without any infrastructure". He has not fixed a date or name for his new political venture.

"The party has to be first named and formed," he wrote, "this doesn't mean I am backtracking, it doesn't mean I won't accept money."

In his column today, he sought also to assuage those offended by an earlier piece in which he spoke of "Hindu terror" and what he described as a new trend among right-wing groups to resort to violence instead of debate to make their arguments. He later said some of his remarks had been lost in translation and stressed that "I come from a Hindu family".

Today, he writes, "Hindus are in a majority, (so) they have the responsibility of an elder brother. When Hindus say we are big, their hearts too ought to be big. They should embrace others and correct them if they do wrong."

On his birthday on the 7th of this month, Kamal Haasan, who first disclosed his intent to turn politician in July, said that he is launching an app which would allow him to collect feedback on what voters want and enable whistleblowers to post crucial information. He said today that "I will do more than just the app" to assure supporters that he is not reconsidering his plans to enter politics.