Months after launching his party flag and anthem, Tamil superstar Vijay, popularly known as “Thalapathy” among his fans and followers, is gearing up to hold his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) first political conference. To be held at V Salai near Vikravandi on October 27, Vijay is expected to pronounce the party’s ideology at the maiden conference.
Vijay in the past three weeks had written two long epistles to his fans and party cadres, while the TVK had appointed 196 personnel as temporary in-charges and three coordination teams with a total of 90 members to manage and oversee the conference. The temporary in-charges are tasked to oversee security and forming volunteer teams. They are also entrusted to manage the private security personnel assigned to Vijay during the conference.
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On October 18, a workshop was organised for the coordination team heads and the in-charges, at Salem, advising them to manage and ensure that the conference is a success.
The inaugural conference is expected to draw two to three lakh people from across Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in the country. The conference is expected to be the show of strength of Vijay, where a few leading movie actors and a dozen political leaders from the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu are expected to join TVK. It is said that former leaders from the Congress in Tamil Nadu and DMK had off-the-record meetings with Vijay in the past few weeks.
Vijay’s fans and TVK members feel that the conference will be a significant step in converting his fan base into a strong political party, which was earlier done by leaders like MGR and Vijayakanth in Tamil Nadu. The TVK cadres and Vijay fans have been working at the conference venue and the party has already completed its groundwork with regard to converting the fan club Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI) into a political party. His VMI has been into social work including charities, supporting educational initiatives, distributing food and wheel chairs to the downtrodden and conducting blood donation camps. His VMI has at least 113 councillors in the local bodies across the state.
Vijay’s political entry is looked at as a challenge to the existing Dravidian majors, particularly the ruling DMK as the anti-DMK vote can be tapped with a vacuum existing in the opposition. While Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) Seeman and BJP’s K Annamalai have been vociferous in exposing the ruling party's failures, Vijay is expected to catch the emotions, as he is popular among the youth. With AIADMK’s stand in opposing the DMK weakened after the death of Jayalalithaa, Vijay’s catchy punches if combined with staunch ideology can win him votes in the Dravidian land.
Vijay’s target, as of now, is the 20 to 30 percent votes which is untapped by the Dravidian majors- DMK and the AIADMK. In Tamil Nadu, at least 70 percent of the electorate is split between the two dravidian parties. The remaining percentage has always remained as an alternate space, which was first won by Vaiko and then by GK Moopanar’s Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) in the 1990s. Later this space was captured by Vijayakanth’s DMDK and then it went to Seeman’s NTK only to be split by Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM). In Tamil Nadu, any party which has to contest and win an election should have more than 50 lakh party members. For instance, from panchayat to parliament, any party should have at least 1.20 lakh people to contest.
In a state which has a rich legacy of actors turning politicians and coming to power, Vijay is not alone. He is a successful superstar and his films gross more than 300 crores in the box office. But just the cinema popularity might not work unless he carves a distinctive path for himself in a politically literate state. In February when he announced the name of party, he said, “On one side, there is a culture of politics tainted with corruption and administrative malpractices, while on the other, there is a divisive political culture striving to fragment our people through caste and religious differences,” which hinted that he will take on both the DMK and the BJP.
With an aggressive Annamalai on one side and Udhayanidhi’s elevation on the other, it remains to be seen if Vijay can convert his fan base into a strong political party and prove himself to be a strong leader that Tamil Nadu has always been looking for.