One of India’s biggest film stars, Rajinikanth, has reversed his stance on demonetisation as he prepares to launch his own political party

• Rajinikanth told reporters yesterday that the Modi administration implemented its demonetisation initiative in November 2016 in a “flawed” manner.
  
• This marks a reversal of his stance a few years ago, when he lauded the Modi government on the reform right after it was announced.
  
• At the end of 2017, Rajinikanth said that he was starting a political party to contest elections for the State Assembly in Tamil Nadu.
  
• While not much progress seems to be made on this front over the course of 2018, a big announcement is expected for the end of the year.

To his legion of swarming fans, Tamil film superstar Rajinikanth is something of a god. But to India’s central government, the 67-year old actor and aspiring political leader might be more of a bugbear.

At a press conference in Chennai yesterday, Rajinikanth remarked that the Modi administration implemented its demonetisation initiative in November 2016 in a “flawed” manner, according to the Press Trust of India. He added that the initiative should have been implemented only after “detailed research” on its implications had been carried out.

This marks a reversal of his stance a few years ago, when he lauded the Modi government on the reform right after it was announced.

In addition, when asked about the possibility of a mega-alliance of opposition parties against the ruling BJP in next year’s general elections, the actor remarked that if regional parties believed that the party was “dangerous”, then it probably was.

A number of South Indian politicians have criticised the demonetisation reform. Last week, M K Stalin, the head of Tamil Nadu’s DMK party, called the note ban a “man-made disaster for India”.

Rajinikanth’s disapproval of the ruling party of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah could be a calculated ploy to gain more supporters as he prepares the launch of his own political party.

With their history of leftist politics, the southern states of India are widely seen to be an Achilles heel for the right-wing BJP. In the 2014 general elections, the saffron party won only a handful of seats from the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with zero from Kerala.

At the end of 2017, Rajinikanth announced that he was starting a political party to contest elections for the State Assembly in Tamil Nadu.

While not much progress seems to be made on this front over the course of 2018, one of his compatriots, AC Shanmugam, the head of small political outfit the New Justice Party, told Economic Times in September that an announcement in this regard was slated for the end of the year. In October, media outlets speculated that the party would be launched on 12 December, the actor’s birthday.