Two months after 41 people died in a tragic stampede during his rally at Karur, actor and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay resumed his campaign from a college campus at Kanchipuram on the outskirts of Chennai. Returning to the public sphere again, the actor-politician took a dig at the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), accusing it of corruption, dynasty politics and abandoning the ideals floated by former chief minister C.N. Annadurai.
Addressing the party cadres in a limited-access, closed-door meeting, actor Vijay said that he came into politics to do good for the people of the state, while questioning the DMK for not keeping up its promises on abolishing NEET. He said that when he comes to power, he would bring back education from the concurrent list to the state list and education for all. “TVK did not make an empty claim like the DMK on ending NEET. Instead, we sought to bring back education to the state list. We will ensure that everyone completes at least one degree, and everyone has a motorcycle or a car to commute. We will elaborate all this in our manifesto,” Vijay said.
Stating that he was standing in Kanchipuram, the birthplace of Annadurai, from where he started his first public outreach, Vijay said his party stands strong on the ideals floated by Anna, unlike the DMK. “After a period of great turmoil, our public outreach programme has resumed, and it begins again in Kancheepuram. We are following the path shown by Anna, who said, "Makkalidam Sel" (go to the people). But those who run the party today have deviated from Anna’s principles.”
He slammed the ruling DMK for questioning his party’s ideology and asserted that the TVK was founded on solid ideological standpoints. “For a party that declared Pirapokkum Ella Uyrikkum (all beings are equal by birth), how can they say we have no principles? We opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act even before our party was formed. We have been advocating for a caste census to ensure social justice for everyone. We were the first to approach the Supreme Court against the Waqf (amendment) Bill,” Vijay added.
He also took at the opposition AIADMK, saying that the party helmed by former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) doesn’t have a strong leader now, with an aim to position himself and his TVK as the primary force opposing the ruling DMK. Making his party workers repeat that the fight in the 2026 election is between the DMK and the TVK three times, Vijay, once again, wanted to reiterate that the AIADMK is not the opposition party.
The most interesting aspect of Vijay’s speech on Sunday was when he replied to his party men being called as 'Tharkuris' (meaning a foolish or a stupid person) online, Vijay unleashed an anger against those calling him so and said, “We are not 'tharkuris'. We are aachariyakuris (exclamation mark) we are maatrathirkaana arikuri (a sign of change) in Tamil Nadu politics.”
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The Sunday meeting, that was attended by around 2,000 party men after they scanned a QR code to get into the venue, was again a show of strength by Vijay to say that he is still active in Tamil Nadu politics. But, during the speech, Vijay did not fail to promote his next movie Jananayakan by saying “Blastu Blastu,” the dialogue in the first single from the film which was released a few weeks ago.
It may be recalled that the promotions for his Jananayakan had already started, and the audio launch of the film is scheduled to happen on December 27, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.