The Tamil Nadu Assembly under Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's TVK party has seen a dramatic shift in legislative proceedings, moving away from traditional debates on public welfare towards a strategy heavily reliant on creating viral social media content and engaging in aggressive tactics against the opposition. Initially marked by ministerial fumbles and a silent Chief Minister, the narrative quickly transformed with politically charged gestures and soundbites amplified through social media reels, appealing to an emotional voter base. Ministers now predominantly focus on blaming the previous DMK regime for state issues and creating sensational clips rather than engaging in substantive policy discussions. While this approach has garnered significant attention and cultivated a 'strongman' image for the TVK, the long-term effectiveness of such emotionally driven tactics is questioned as the opposition begins to adapt its own counter-strategies.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly under Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's TVK party has seen a dramatic shift in legislative proceedings, moving away from traditional debates on public welfare towards a strategy heavily reliant on creating viral social media content and engaging in aggressive tactics against the opposition. Initially marked by ministerial fumbles and a silent Chief Minister, the narrative quickly transformed with politically charged gestures and soundbites amplified through social media reels, appealing to an emotional voter base. Ministers now predominantly focus on blaming the previous DMK regime for state issues and creating sensational clips rather than engaging in substantive policy discussions. While this approach has garnered significant attention and cultivated a 'strongman' image for the TVK, the long-term effectiveness of such emotionally driven tactics is questioned as the opposition begins to adapt its own counter-strategies.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly under Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay's TVK party has seen a dramatic shift in legislative proceedings, moving away from traditional debates on public welfare towards a strategy heavily reliant on creating viral social media content and engaging in aggressive tactics against the opposition. Initially marked by ministerial fumbles and a silent Chief Minister, the narrative quickly transformed with politically charged gestures and soundbites amplified through social media reels, appealing to an emotional voter base. Ministers now predominantly focus on blaming the previous DMK regime for state issues and creating sensational clips rather than engaging in substantive policy discussions. While this approach has garnered significant attention and cultivated a 'strongman' image for the TVK, the long-term effectiveness of such emotionally driven tactics is questioned as the opposition begins to adapt its own counter-strategies.

On day one when Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s TVK got into the State Assembly for a floor test, I felt that every session, debate, and discussion inside the Assembly would be fiery and vibrant.

And when the first session began with Governor Rajendra Arlekar’s speech, this became more evident to me, as the entire batch of legislators in the treasury benches seemed young and energetic. But during the first session, most of the ministers fumbled with facts, legislators remained silent and so did the CM.

But on the last day of his reply, Vijay’s hand gesture showing “finish”, mocking former Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin went viral. Soon it became a trend, and the image was captured in all banners and posters across the state.

This is not unparliamentary, of course, and was lauded by his fans and followers—people who voted for Vijay celebrated him for this action. A month later, now that the Budget session has begun, there were high expectations among the TVKians to see Vijay speak on the floor of the Assembly.

And from the day Finance Minister Marie Wilson presented the Budget, the proceedings were telecast, and the ministers began giving explanations and countering every argument put forth by the Opposition. But if you ask if the discussions are healthy and noteworthy to benefit the people of the state, the answer from me is just a plain NO.

As a correspondent who has covered Assembly proceedings for over a decade when J. Jayalalithaa, M. Karunanidhi, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Stalin were CMs, there is a complete change in the attitude of the treasury bench and the arguments put forth by the ministers. And for the first time, the Opposition benches too were sulking.

Most of the time, the treasury benches threw comments against the Opposition, blaming the DMK regime for every issue in the state, while a few of the former ministers were seen defending the DMK. Former ministers like K.N. Nehru and E.V. Velu were seen rising up all the time to explain and clarify things.

DMK legislator Vasantham Kaarthikeyan even went to the extent of saying that it was TVK minister Aadhav Arjuna who recommended him for an MLA ticket from the DMK in 2021.

The treasury benches seem to take an upper hand in every issue.

Instead of talking about people’s issues and the most important schemes, the ministers are particular about cornering and exposing the DMK inside the Assembly, and this sent out a strong feeling that the DMK is losing to the TVK in the Assembly. Most of the time, the ministers’ replies to the Opposition were unpredictable: they broke the rules, operating entirely outside the established framework.

To the outside world, a few hours after the Assembly proceedings were telecast live, the 60-second clips in Instagram reels would carry clickbait headlines saying how TVK ministers trumped the Opposition and exposed the DMK. Apparently, people—particularly the TVKians—are drawn to emotional resonance and not always rule-bound.

In fact, the TVK understood this fundamental shift in the mindset of the people and knew that sounding rational might not help them score among the public via reels. Loose words, tantrums and sometimes disrespecting even their own Speaker or the protocol was celebrated on the internet by a set of social media influencers. But DMK and the Opposition benches often went by the rulebook, sounding rational.

With the Assembly proceedings being broadcast live, the Speaker expunging the ministers' comment meant nothing. By the time the Speaker said, “Your comments are expunged”, people would have watched it live; reels would have made these viral. The message had already reached the people and made the impact the TVK wanted.

On Friday, the DMK, by choosing to say “no” to the cars, seems to have taken an upper hand in the Assembly after a few days of poor performance while being in the Opposition benches.

Udhayanidhi stood up as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and opposed word-by-word to break the strongman, hero image that the TVK had built over the days inside the Assembly. DMK’s strategy inside the Assembly shifted from replying to the TVK and playing offensive to winning the perception war and countering with wordplay. After Udhayanidhi, former ministers P.K. Shekhar Babu and V. Senthil Balaji were at their best.

However, it doesn’t stop here. Any offence put up by the Opposition may not help them in the future as the TVK is particular about bullying the Opposition, tapping the ‘strongmen’ psychological phenomenon, and signaling ‘strength’ to the outside world, like in Vijay’s films.

But the same emotional tactics to win the minds of the people may not help the TVK and CM Vijay forever.

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