Kamal Haasan stirs row over Godse; BJP says assassin different from terrorist

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan has said independent India's first "extremist was a Hindu"-- Nathuram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi, stoking a controversy with the BJP on Monday asserting that an "assassin" is very different from a terrorist.

The BJP also accused the Makkal Needhi Maiyam founder of indulging in "divisive politics" and following the Congress and Communists in showing Hindus "in a bad light to appease minorities".

Addressing an election campaign in Tamil Nadu's Aravakurichi on Sunday night, Haasan said he was one of those "proud Indians" who desires an India of equality and where the "three colours in the tricolour remained intact", in an obvious reference to different faiths.

"I am not saying this because this is a Muslim dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Independent India's first extremist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (extremism, apparently) starts," he said.

Haasan said he was a "self-assumed great-grandson" of ...