Opinion | Why Vijay’s Political Innings Won’t Be An Easy Act
Vijay's new party enters a challenging landscape where other regional parties have struggled to gain traction
Nearly eight months after he announced the launch of a new political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), actor Vijay held his first political rally on October 27 at Vikravandi town in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. The event attracted nearly three lakh supporters as well as eyeballs—if the large number of TV viewers are considered—and Vijay made it clear he has his eyes set on the 2026 assembly elections.
Laying down the contours of his party’s political values, he invoked the likes of Periyar, Ambedkar, Kamaraj, Anjalai Ammal, and Velu Nachiar. He implied that the BJP is his ideological enemy and the DMK, his political adversary. But he tied himself in knots by idolising Periyar, arguably the greatest iconoclast ever in terms of smashing and disfiguring Hindu gods, and in the same breath, swearing by respect for all religions and castes. Be that as it may.
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Film stars get a headstart like no other when it comes to public engagement. Directors allow them the latitude to tailor scripts, accommodating one-liners intended to hint at their views on the ruling dispensation, even if some of these lines are inane or incoherent. A doctor or lawyer, for example, may be equally successful. Yet, he doesn’t have the kind of mass reach and appeal that an actor enjoys. Indeed, cinema pans out to a very large audience. Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the masses. What he said has over the years come to be extended to cinema and cricket in the Indian context.
But then, despite the head start and natural advantage over other wannabes, not all film stars are successful in the rough and tumble of politics. If MGR, and Jayalalithaa who inherited his mantle, were successful, Vijay Kant, Kamal Hassan and Rajnikant either turned out to be damp squibs or got cold reception from the masses in the political arena. Which testifies to the fact that politics is a different ball game.
Regional parties in India have had a chequered history and record. Only the Trinamool Congress, founded by the firebrand as a breakaway faction of the Congress party, has enjoyed unalloyed success in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee hasn’t allowed any other regional party to spring up, much less take roots in West Bengal in the last more than 15 years. In Bihar, the two major regional parties, the JDU and RJD, take turns to rule and sometimes join hands to rule. In Maharashtra, which is going to polls soon, there were two principal regional parties, the NCP and Shiv Sena. Both of them have split amoeba-like, through a process called binary fission, to spawn two more political parties claiming to be the original with the parent being the clone.
The point is that having more than one regional political party leads to them fighting each other, thereby yielding space to the mainstream political party. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK and its breakaway group the AIADMK have been ruling the state for more than half a century now. It is a unique state in that where the Dravidian movement, at loggerheads with the mainstream Hindu worldview, still holds sway over the masses. Rajinikanth, perhaps, saw the writing on the wall and quietly wriggled out of his commitment to enter politics at the appropriate time. Vijay is much younger and maybe made of sterner stuff. He might not adhere to the adage that if you can’t beat them, join them. Time alone will tell.
The upcoming 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections would see two stormy petrels, Annamalai of the BJP and Vijay, trying to rock the deep-rooted Dravidian parties. To BJP’s credit, it has a distinct economic and social vision for the nation for good or bad, which while making a favourable impact in other parts of the country, falls flat in Tamil Nadu. Vijay is an unknown quantity. Hence, he has to hard sell himself to the voters, the bulk of whom are beneficiaries of the freebie culture. Sheikhs in Arab nations loot and plunder but lull their people into smugness by building excellent infrastructure for them. The Indian equivalent is lulling the electorate with freebies. Vijay has his task cut out. If he wants to leave a distinct impression, he must show a distinct vision away from rhetoric.
Tamil Nadu is India’s second-largest economy, contributing 8.8 per cent to the national GDP. It has a diversified manufacturing and services sector, and is a leader in many industries. It ranks high on the human development index, which includes income, health, and education. It also ranks second-lowest in terms of infant mortality rate and birth rate. It is one of the only eight states that has recorded poverty reduction at a rate higher than the all-India average. It has been one of the most successful states in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). It has a strong industrial base, skilled manpower, a literate populace and a conducive business environment.
A demagogue flourishes in an environment of despondency and poverty. Vijay then has an unenviable task—he has no discontentment to stoke. Sadly, people have become apathetic to corruption, if at all that is the issue. To make his task even more difficult, there are already too many regional parties in the state. Mamata, when she stormed the state of West Bengal, simply had to dislodge the entrenched Communists who had run industrialisation aground.
The writer is a senior columnist. He tweets @smurlidharan. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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