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Latha Rajinikanth has launched Makkal Medai, a citizen-driven platform aimed at fostering grassroots leadership and community welfare across Tamil Nadu. Describing it as a forum for creating “changemakers, not politicians,” she said the initiative would bring together citizens from diverse backgrounds to contribute to social development.
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00:00well-known educationist, a producer, a singer, a philanthropist and also she started as a
00:07journalist. Latha Rajiv Khan, thank you so much for speaking to us ma'am. However, you have also
00:12saw, should I call it as a new avatar or a culmination of you initiating something called
00:17as Makkal Meire. I have learned something over 45 years of my life with the common people
00:24and I worked with them closely with children, women, farmers, cottage industries, youth,
00:29the common people and I have understood at the roots what is missing, what is there,
00:35what the people need and how the energies of people can come together to make a bigger difference
00:41to a locality. So that way I have put all my efforts into categories as Peace for Children for Children,
00:50Bharat Market for the farmers and Bharat Seva for the state and national project and now we started
00:56Makkal Meire. Makkal Meire was launched even a couple of months ago. Bharat Seva was launched
01:02three, four years ago. Daya Foundation has been acting for over 45 years now. So I found this and
01:08it needed a very good infrastructure to go forward. And so we brought Makkal Meire as a local body that
01:16can work with us in every region to create local welfare, local leaders and also bring out this
01:23sense of you know, I can do something for my state, to my people, to the country. Makkal Meire generally
01:29means a platform for the people. Yes, citizens platform. In English we call it citizens platform.
01:34So what exactly is it trying to bring? What are you trying to serve to the people? What do they
01:39need
01:39actually? The common community, the community welfare, see people have stopped coming together
01:46because there was a beautiful community infrastructure in ancient India, in Bharat,
01:51which kept everybody secure and safe because there was a very strong social infrastructure. In a street
01:58people could believe and trust and send their children to play anywhere. Women could walk, do what
02:03they wanted to do. Each house knew about the other. Everybody had a kind of a connectivity which is
02:09missing today because of the fear, because of the kind of social change that has happened. So the
02:15community has to be together. We all have to come together as a community that I care about you and
02:20she cares about me and somebody cares about the whole street. See, if you have an apartment complex,
02:26you have an association. Why do you have an association? Because you want every home to participate
02:32in the welfare of the whole colony. Similarly, in every locality there are so many homes, so many
02:38families. There is a street, there is a river body, there is a street, there is sanitary conditions
02:43required, safety required. All this requires the coming together of people. So the local body that
02:49works is like a Gram Sabah, elders of those days. You say, Ur Talay Vargal in Tamil.
02:56Exchange of knowledge. Exchange of knowledge. Yes, exactly. And coming together. There is a lot of expertise.
03:01There is a lot of commitment. But people don't want to work. People are afraid to work separately.
03:07So you need to bring all these energies together in order to come to a greater welfare of every
03:13location. So how much does Tamil Nadu need this platform? Absolutely. Because when I work with
03:19the roots in the villages, in the streets, in the districts, I find that a lot of things have to
03:25percolate down there. So we have to create a connectivity and that's what Bharat Seva has been doing
03:31and Makkal Mede has been doing. This is a model I have taken for Tamil Nadu. If this model works,
03:37then you are connecting people to each other. And this is what we are doing in Tamil Nadu now,
03:42because through Bharat Seva, I understood that there are so many people who want to come together to
03:47work. But they need an identity and a platform from where they can work to identify themselves.
03:52I belong to this. In school, you divide students into houses, remember, sports houses. They say,
03:59I belong to Ashoka, I belong to Shivaji, like that. There is an identity with which people want to work.
04:05So we are giving them that identity through Makkal Mede. Yes, come together. You are a local teacher,
04:10you are a retired army official, you are a postman, you have knowledge about your location,
04:14you have environmental care, you want to work for the people, come, come together.
04:19Ma'am, at this point in the state of Tamil Nadu, when you are talking about bringing people together
04:23and exchange of knowledge and such, one of the important talking points, not just now,
04:28I believe you also worked on it very much, that is about providing children with knowledge and also
04:33safety for women and children. So how is Makkal Mede going to help with that?
04:37Because at every location, every street corner, we need caretakers. It has become very large,
04:43you know, people, it's all spread out. It's not like those days, very controlled.
04:47So we need people at every street corner. That is why we need Makkal Mede,
04:51because every person in the street can be part of Makkal Mede, even from their own homes.
04:57Yes, I can care about the street. I can care about the child playing with my child. I can care
05:02about...
05:02So what are we creating for our next generation? We have to be examples to them to say,
05:08okay, you need to have a commitment to your society, to your state, to your country.
05:12The spirit of loving and having a commitment to your country is very, very important.
05:18This has to be passed on. Also, if you look at things, how happy the children are in a country,
05:24that's how prosperous a country will be. How safe and comfortable are the women,
05:30that's how safe your country can be. How safe are the farmers or the common people,
05:35that's well how advanced your country can be. Because of technology and modernization,
05:40we have come far away from reality and, you know, being close to nature. So that is very important
05:48now. And a little bit of the ancient culture. We don't have to do anything special. Just look at
05:53the old India. It's a great model. They had beautiful social infrastructure. They had great
05:58economy. Where did we lose that connect? Somewhere down there due to the invasions and the cultural
06:04invasions. We lost connect with that kind of a solid structure. So what we are now saying is how to
06:10get
06:10that back in some way. So we're starting at the Gram Sabha. We're starting at that level and saying,
06:15okay, let's work like the ancient Indians who showed us a great, deep sense of wisdom to manage
06:22everything. See, governance was pretty much very simple, but every street there, because every home was
06:28involved. Every grandmother was involved. Every mother was involved. Every farmer, every person
06:33working, every male member, everybody was involved. So we want to bring that culture back.
06:39If I may, in this rapidly fast world with life just moving so fast,
06:44is it possible for them to stop and connect to each other through Makal Mede?
06:48Absolutely. I think because people are getting tired of the current scenario. Parents are getting worried
06:54that their children are getting locked into mobiles and iPads. Technology has taken away a lot of jobs.
07:02One mobile has taken away the jobs of so many people. You don't have a videographer. You don't have a
07:07photography studio. You don't have a filmmaking, the print studio. You don't have CDs. You don't have
07:14audio tapes. You don't have type raters. So many professions have been lost because of one
07:21one instrument. And the whole world is culminating to believe that that is the world. So we need to
07:29come to reality. We need to bring the psychology back. This will all lead to a lot of emotional
07:35imbalance in the society. When you're talking about the psychologists bringing this Makal Mede in
07:39particular, did you face any challenge? We will be facing. We should be facing too. Because you're
07:45fighting against a technology and modernized and slightly moved away society to a society which
07:51we're looking to say, okay, stop and think, have an emotional balance, have a psychological balance
07:57and how you move forward. Because what you're going to show today is what your child is going to learn.
08:02So nobody's understanding that you're passing on something, whether it is right or wrong,
08:08they're not stopping to think. So it's high time that we stop to think about all this.
08:12There will be challenges. But you know, if you have to do good, freedom didn't come easy. So people
08:18went together to fight for the freedom because they understood the common cause. So we have to
08:23understand the common cause now and come together. Well, in that particular case, Makal Mede is trying
08:27to bring the people together. It is trying to reform the people, give them some kind of knowledge to be
08:32together and harmony and such. Does this mean there are possibility of Makal Mede to become a political
08:37platform in the future? See, governance, unfortunately, our country defines politics very
08:44differently. And also the current scenario of politics has been different. Right now,
08:48we are focusing on its social cause. We will build it up as a social entity. Right now, it will
08:54not be
08:54that. But we are creating local leaders. There will be people who come and work with us in every region.
09:00And if the strength, how it develops is the strength we want to give to this whole movement.
09:06And get all people to work for the nation, to the state, understand the importance of it. That's how
09:12it's going right now. Is there a possibility for it to turn to a political movement? No, not right now.
09:16Right now, no. Not right now. Not right now. So when the women in safety and security in the state
09:22of
09:22Tamil Nadu and the new programs that have been brought together, especially like Singapore and such,
09:26is you think, is it enough or there is more to be done to it? There's a lot to be
09:30done everywhere.
09:32Nothing can be enough with the kind of a spread out country that we have. Everybody has to rise up
09:37in their localities, look at their own safeties. I feel people have to work with each other more so that
09:44they are there for each other. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you need to care about each other
09:50and
09:50be there for available for each other. First comes humanity, being humane, and then comes everything
09:56else. So what we would like to tell through Makkal Medai is come together, be humane, be, you know,
10:02understand the depth and depth of our culture, where we come from, and then work together. And so that
10:08if I work for this, everybody works, it becomes a larger, you know, output, when I bring people
10:15together. In fact, corporates, entrepreneurs, IAS, IPS, advocates, chartered accountants, we're
10:21inviting everyone to give their experience and expertise to the work. Also, in this through Makkal
10:26Medai, I want to just ask this particular question, because even recently, while the Chief Minister
10:30was speaking, he said that the larger illegal things that is happening is because of the drug menace
10:35and such. Will Makkal Medai bring any kind of change to such? We are looking at every location that needs
10:41help. Every location seems to have a different issue. So our local Makkal Medai volunteers, for
10:47example, I just recently mentioned about the cracker blast in Viridanagar, where 25 people died, and
10:53women died who are mothers. And they went on a Sunday, where it is not allowed, just because they were
11:00getting some extra wages, and they lost their lives and left nine children orphaned. So we call the
11:06children, our Makkal Medai in Viridanagar, went to their villages, brought the children to Chennai. I
11:12brought them here, I met them. Now they are part of Makkal Medai family. There is an anchor for them,
11:18there is a direction. Oh, what do I do tomorrow is not the question. We are there for them. So
11:23first,
11:24we try to give that, you know, the feeling of it's a big home. If your state is a big
11:28home, how would you
11:29operate? If your nation is a big home, how would you operate? So we should be there for each other.
11:35So these
11:35children have become. So in every locality, now we are looking at what are the cracker factories
11:40in Sivagasi? How the child, how are the children living there? How are schools being run? How are
11:46clinics? Is there medical help? What is happening at the bottom level? We are doing everything in
11:51expanded way. And I must thank my Makkal Medai members and volunteers in every district. They've
11:57come so much forward to work with me. They are right there when something happens and they are on the
12:02field.
12:03So is Ratna Rajnegan going to become a politician in the future?
12:07No, absolutely not because he has taken a stand in his life.
12:12I am asking about you.
12:13Pardon? I didn't get you.
12:14About you. Is Ratna Rajnegan going to become a politician in the future?
12:18No, not. See, I have no idea. I am not interested in holding positions. I am not looking at that.
12:25I am
12:26just looking at developing a great community and serve socially first. We have to be eligible for
12:33everything. We have to serve the country, serve the people and then leave it to the future to decide
12:38what the next generation, the future generations of Tamil Nadu wish to do. That I can only be a mentor.
12:45What about Rajnegan sir?
12:46He has already given his stand and he has been the best person to answer all these questions about him.
12:50And what is the kind of support you are getting for Makal Mere now?
12:55Great support. We are getting so many people to come forward to work with us. In fact, I am very
13:00surprised that they are asking, why did you not start it before? We had already done it before as
13:05Bharata Seva, but now it is coming to light because, you know, at a time when everything came out,
13:11I think everybody understood what we were doing.
13:13So like anybody who wants to join Makal Mere, what would you like to tell them?
13:16Please come forward. It is very important that as a country we come together, as a state we come
13:22together and work for the people. I would like to see a little bit of the old India back. We
13:29live in
13:29the glory of all our ancestors and what they did. A lot of people sacrificed their lives for us as
13:35kings,
13:36as soldiers, from the army and they are standing in the borders working for us. All that we can do
13:42is to
13:43understand the sacrifice of all the people in the past and we don't have to give lives. We can give
13:49our time, we can give our energies, our expertise and come together for the common welfare of the
13:54country and for Tamil Nadu. Thank you so much for speaking to us ma'am. When it comes to India,
14:00it is an amazing nation, it is a great nation, but there is still a lot to be dealt with
14:04something
14:04called as the society, you know, since in the society. So Makal Mere seems to be a platform
14:09that will bring the people together. They can share the knowledge and create a path for all those
14:15who could get lost or lost. With Irfan, Pramod Madhu, for India today.
14:20We'll see you next time.
14:20We'll see you next time.
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