CHENNAI: Actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay, in his first public speech after the Karur crowd-crush tragedy, targeted the DMK alone in his criticism of the ruling party, alleging corruption and poor governance.
For perhaps the first time, Vijay outlined several welfare measures that his party is likely to include in its election manifesto for the 2026 Assembly elections.
With the term “tharkuri” becoming infamously popular on social media to refer to the “ignorance” of Vijay’s supporters by political parties, the actor-politician, employing consonance, delivered a repartee.
He said his supporters were not tharkuris, but those who would make the future of the DMK a “kelvi kuri” (a question mark). “They are acharya kuri (exclamation marks) of Tamil Nadu politics. They are arikuri (indicator) of change in Tamil Nadu politics,” he said.
Although the meeting was framed as a public interaction, it was not open to the public and was held in an auditorium of a private educational institution in Kancheepuram district.
The media were also not allowed inside. Party functionaries brought in a select group of around 1,500–2,000 people from the district for the meeting.
While Vijay acknowledged that people would expect him to speak about the stampede at his political rally in Karur, which killed 41 people, he said he would speak about it later.
Invoking the name of DMK founder and former Chief Minister C N Annadurai, who hailed from Kancheepuram district, Vijay said the Dravidian stalwart had dedicated his life to public welfare but alleged that the party he founded had abandoned its principles and was focussed only on corruption.
Arguing that the Palar river, which he said was the lifeline of Kancheepuram district, had degraded over time due to illicit sand mining, he alleged that the ruling dispensation had looted ₹4,730 crore through illegal mining. He contended that proof for this was available in the courts and with the Enforcement Directorate.
Outlining his party’s likely poll promises, Vijay said TVK’s vision included permanent housing for all families, a two-wheeler for every household, economic progress enabling families to own cars, ensuring that everyone completes at least an undergraduate degree, assured stable income for at least one member of each family, reforms in education so that more people secure jobs, improved infrastructure in government hospitals so that people can visit without fear, measures for flood mitigation and resilience, and safety for women.
“More importantly, stringent enforcement of law and order,” he said.
“All these will be presented in detail in our election manifesto,” he added.
Taking a direct swipe at Chief Minister M K Stalin for questioning TVK’s ideology, Vijay said his party was being labelled as lacking principles despite “all are equal at birth” being a core principle of the party. He also said TVK had opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act and had approached the Supreme Court against the amendments to the Waqf Act.