Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Wednesday clarified that his remarks on Kannada were said out of love and that 'love will never apologise', remarks that came amidst a furore in Karnataka over his recent comments.
The top star's response, which he described as an 'explanation' and not an 'answer', came in the wake of pro-Kannada organisations in Karnataka strongly objecting to his 'Tamil gave birth to Kannada' remarks and demanding an apology, else block the release of his upcoming flick Thug Life.
While talking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Haasan said those who triggered a row over his statements were 'confusing the issue'.
"What I said was said out of love. And a lot of historians have taught me language history and I did not mean anything."
He also said Tamil Nadu is a 'rare state' which has been open to anyone.
"And, let me tell you, Tamil Nadu is a place which has been open. I don't say there is no other state like this. But a very rare state where a Menon (MG Ramachandran) has been our Chief Minister...a Reddy (Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar) has been our Chief Minister, a Tamilian (M Karunanidhi) has been our Chief Minister and then a Kannadiga Iyengar has been our CM, from Mandya," the actor said.
The Kannadiga Iyengar was an apparent reference to the late Jayalalithaa.
"When there was a problem from a chief minister who hailed from Karnataka (Jayalalithaa), it was Karnataka which gave me support. Kannadigas said come here we will give you a house, don't go anywhere. So the people will take care of Thug Life, Kamal Haasan and all these controversies," he said.
Politicians, including him were not qualified to talk about languages as they don't have the 'education enough to talk about it'.
"So let's leave all this very in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists and language experts," he said.
The statement he made regarding the language was out of love and 'we are family and so are the languages'.
"If you look at it from the northern point of view, yes what they say, according to them is right. But if you look at it from Thenkumari (south), then what I say is right. Then there is a third angle to it, and that is what I said (that) the scholars and language experts, they will say both are right, but they must decide where they want to belong, to their family or to the languages that came from the North."
"That's up to you, this is a democratic country. This is not an answer, this is an explanation. Love will never apologise," Haasan said.
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