Can Vijay and TVK win over rural voters in Tamil Nadu?

Vijay's political party launch was a huge success

38-Vijay-addressing-the-crowd Opening shot: Vijay addressing the crowd at the launch of his political party.

The 370km distance from Kodaikanal in south Tamil Nadu to Vikravandi in the northern part of the state did not appear daunting for 23-year-old Dinesh and his wife, Malarkodi. Dinesh, a driver, and Malarkodi, housekeeping staff at a local hotel, rode their motorcycle for over eight hours from their hometown to attend superstar Vijay’s political party launch rally at Vikravandi in Villupuram district on October 27. “We believe Vijay can bring in a change and uplift people like us,” said Dinesh.

The couple finally got to listen to Vijay’s speech and also saw him waving from the dais. “This is enough for us. We will vote for him in the next election,” said Malarkodi.

C. Joseph Vijay, called Thalapathy (commander) by his followers, formally launched his party on October 27 with three lakh people in attendance.

Vijay, 49, is one of the highest paid actors in Indian cinema. His latest film GOAT is said to have collected more than Rs300 crore from Tamil Nadu alone. Launched by his producer-director father S.A. Chandrasekhar in the late 1990s, Vijay earned praise for his style, mannerisms and dialogue delivery. Chandrasekhar was a staunch follower of the Dravidian ideology and his movies often featured heroes fighting the establishment and deeply entrenched social ills. It was Chandrasekhar who initially pushed Vijay to develop a larger-than-life image.

Vijay made it to the people’s hearts with his brand of films, hard work and philanthropy. The generational transition happening in Dravidian politics is helping him as well. “Everything I achieved was only because of the people.... I have come to you, giving up my career at its peak, trusting you. Let us script a new future for Tamil Nadu,” Vijay told the massive crowd at Vikravandi.

Even from his days as a visual communication student at Chennai’s Loyola College, Vijay has been a follower of the Dravidian ideology, but was reluctant to get into politics. Encouraged by his father, he began nursing his political dreams, especially after the deaths of AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi. Chandrasekhar, in fact, had registered a political party in his son’s name a few years ago, but Vijay chose to distance himself from the move. Later, in 2023, Vijay converted his fan club called the Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (TVMI) into a political forum.

In February this year, after many rounds of discussions and deliberations within the family and with his well wishers, Vijay registered his political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). “Vijay will not back off like Rajinikanth or align with the DMK like Kamal Haasan. He will play hard ball against the Dravidian parties,” said S. Manohar, a TVK member from Veerapandi in Salem. Manohar has been an active member of the Vijay fan club for the past two decades. He was active during the 2022 local body elections. At least 116 members of Vijay’s movement won in 2022, which apparently gave the actor the confidence to take the final plunge.

At the very first conference itself, Vijay declared the BJP as his ideological enemy and the DMK as his electoral enemy. He said his party would embrace the ideologies of Dravidian icon Periyar, but without his “anti-God position”. His party has embraced former chief minister K. Kamaraj, but would not celebrate his party, the Congress. Among Vijay’s other ideological icons are B.R. Ambedkar, Velu Nachiyar (celebrated queen from Sivaganga) and Anjalai Ammal (freedom fighter from Cuddalore). He said his party’s ideological focus would be on social justice, women’s empowerment and secularism.

“Forces that divide us over religion, caste and other identities are not our only enemies. Corrupt forces must be opposed, too. While divisive forces are easy to identify, corrupt ones are harder to spot. They are elusive, eloquent in ideology, dramatic in their performance and appear as self-proclaimed guardians of Tamil culture. Their faces are masks. Such fake forces are ruling over us today,” said Vijay, copying some of his cinematic punchlines. He called the DMK the party of dynasts, and said the ruling party was falsely parading social justice credentials. His political messaging was focused on inclusivity and Tamil pride.

But the way ahead may not be easy for Vijay. “There is no absolute clarity in the ideology or the path Vijay has chosen. There are lots of contradictions. He has to learn a lot about Tamil Nadu and Dravidian politics and the peoples’understanding of electoral politics. He may have fans, but those who whistle for him may not turn into voters. His speech was like his cinema punch lines with no convincing ideas or political stand,” said A. Iruthayaraj, professor at Loyola College in Chennai, who writes on Dravidian culture and politics.

But on the day of his first show in politics, Vijay was clear about his party’s target: winning over the 20-30 per cent of voters who remain unaligned with the two Dravidian majors, the DMK and the AIADMK, and also a large section of the youth voting for film personality Seeman and his Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK). The crowd present at Vikravandi largely belonged to the 18-24 age group, who usually vote for the NTK or S. Ramadoss’s Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) or Thol Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). Vijay’s entry will eat into the vote banks of these three parties, which are strong in north Tamil Nadu. Vijay fans are mostly rural masses who belong to the lower strata of society and are influenced by social media.

“The landscape of politics is definitely changing in Tamil Nadu and it is very much warranted because of the change in the demography of the voters. This is the right age for Vijay to enter. He is popular. This is similar to MGR's entry into politics,” said A. Gladston Xavier, professor at Loyola College, Chennai. “He is receiving an overwhelming response because he seems to be different. There is definitely a political space for him to grow. But how successful can he become remains to be seen as his ideology is not radically different from that of the existing political parties.”