Amala Paul's press note on the tax controversy

Nov 4, 2017 JB

Actress Amala Paul has recently been in the news for the purchase of her luxury car in Puducherry and the allied tax problems. She had issued a press note which is as follows:

Respected Press and Media Friends,

I am in a state of shock the way an age-old daily publication, formed on nationalist principles by freedom fighters of Malabar region, is today digging such shallow ways to raise their circulations and garner public attention. I feel I have the right to speak against these unwanted speculations and harassment caused to me and my family, despite paying taxes of more than a crore this year alone. And especially now, even when the respective authorities have found no unlawful act on my part.

I am an Indian citizen and assumed that I have every right to work and own any asset throughout our nation freely. But now this self proclaimed socio-reformist newspaper, which has somewhere lost the meaning of its own name ‘MOTHERLAND’ and its own history, has resorted to play the divisive regionalist propaganda, by making the innocent local readers believe that their state is separate from the nation at large.

I wish to know from these wise-men that I have worked in Tamil Cinema as much as I have worked in Malayalam cinema, so help me rationalize my assets in both the states by respective distributions of my paycheques. And should I have to ask their consent to work in Telugu Cinema or if I wish to own an asset in Bangalore? Last time I checked Bangalore’s currency is also the same i.e. Indian Rupees ‘INR’.

Have these wise men forgotten from where our country has come in the last seventy years, after countless efforts by many a great man, finally there is a sense of unity in our diverse nation? Even when the government has succeeded in bringing the country under one unified tax regime, I humbly request them to stop dividing and isolating the sentiments of our people. I sincerely hope a day will come when our future generations, will not be Keralites, Tamilians or Punjabis or Gujaratis but be just Indians and working together for the growth of our great nation. Let’s fight the real fight, the fight against poverty, corruption, illiteracy, injustice and not resort to lynching law-abiding citizens for short-sighted gains.

Peace & Regards

Amala Paul