Clad in his stylish black suit with the usual black dot on his forehead, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay was all smiles as he entered the assembly hall on Monday. Three days after the opposition and the members of all other legislative party leaders spoke on the debate on demand for grants of the police department, Vijay walked in style into the assembly to deliver his reply. Expectations rose high among his party legislators inside the assembly and his party cadres and the general public waiting outside the secretariat to hear Vijay’s reply.
Last week, as the members spoke on the demand for grants for the home department, Vijay said he would deliver his reply and warned the opposition DMK members not to “run away”.
“Law and order is very important for a state. The police are important not just for safety and security but for the growth of the state,” Vijay said, as he began his 40-minute-long speech in the assembly. Replying to the questions raised by the members with regard to specific issues like the murder of student Amudhan in Coimbatore and many other allegations by the opposition, Vijay said isolated incidents cannot be counted together to call it a law and order failure.
Referring to former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu C.N. Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran, and N.T. Rama Rao, who ruled Andhra Pradesh, Vijay said in filmi style, “People have mandated leaders like Anna, MGR, NTR, and now Vijay. The DMK accuses the TVK government of scrapping schemes introduced by them. But the same DMK scrapped many schemes of the AIADMK government when it came to power. The DMK thinks the people of Tamil Nadu have forgotten its corruption and mistakes, but that is not the case; that is why the people have elected us,” he added.
Vijay cited the lyrics of popular MGR numbers and the words of the late Tamil poet Kannadasan to attack the DMK. “You always say that you have faced MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). But we know the history behind MISA,” Vijay said, making a viral action by hitting his lower jaw with his hand. The action was to symbolise how Stalin’s jaw was broken due to police torture during the emergency when he was in jail.
He raised his voice and began accusing the DMK of nepotism, recalling case after case – right from the Sarkaria Commission and the Veeranam scandal to the latest searches by the Enforcement Directorate and its reports just before the 2026 assembly election. He also claimed that the ED’s dossier had named Stalin, the Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, and minister Senthil Balaji in connection with the alleged collection of money in the name of party funds in the TASMAC scam. He also said that the then Sarkaria Commission report, constituted in 1976 to probe allegations against the then DMK government, and its examination of the Veeranam drinking water project had accused former chief minister M. Karunanidhi of misusing his official position.
Soon, the assembly began witnessing tumultuous scenes as the DMK members raised their voices in objection to Vijay’s speech. The opposition, which had been listening in complete silence until 9:56 am, for around 20 minutes since Vijay began his reply, then started raising slogans and displaying pamphlets inside the assembly hall. The DMK legislators walked into the well of the assembly, surrounded the speaker, and started a sit-in protest as Vijay departed from the speech concerning his department.
He also mentioned a private individual named Ratheesh Shanmugavelu, who was named by the ED in its dossier in the TASMAC scam. Ratheesh was considered close to the DMK and Udhayanidhi Stalin then. Vijay asked why Ratheesh was hiding in Dubai, alleging that he was a key figure with regard to decision-making within TASMAC during the DMK regime.
Criticising the DMK over alleged remarks by its Organising Secretary R.S. Bharathi that people who did not vote for the party should die, Vijay said, “The same people have been voting for them for the last 50 years. I ask, why should the DMK remain a political party with such a mindset?” Mentioning law and order, Vijay said steps would be taken to immediately fill vacancies in the police department, and that the department would be digitalised soon so that it can function independently without political interference.
Despite the opposition DMK protesting in the house, Vijay continued his speech, indicating that he and his government will not tolerate anyone abusing women. Targeting Udhayanidhi for his alleged comments against actor Trisha Krishnan, he appealed to people not to make defamatory remarks against women. “Before anyone speaks in such a manner, they should think of the women in their own family. Women are the main reason behind my political victory. I will not tolerate any abusive language against women. There can be harsh political criticism, but there should not be any defamatory remarks against women.”
Saying that there was a deterioration in law and order and an increase in drug use during the previous DMK regime, he advised the DMK members to look in the mirror at its own record before speaking about law and order.
The speech by Vijay, with the TVK members thumping their desks and the chief minister delivering punch lines and gestures, reminded one of how Jayalalithaa and her mentor MGR attacked the DMK once.
