CHENNAI: TVK leader Vijay on Wednesday slammed DMK govt in Tamil Nadu and BJP at the Centre, accusing them of indulging in childish spats like “fights among LKG-UKG students” over central funding and National Education Policy. The Union govt has challenged the educational and language policies of the state in violation of cooperative federalism and state autonomy, imposing a third language “forcibly and politically”, said Vijay.
Addressing an event near Chennai to mark the beginning of his party TVK’s second year, the actor-turned-politician alleged that his political and ideological enemies were pretending to bash each other but were colluding and manipulating social media narratives around an important issue.
“There is no need for us to tell people. They know how big a deceit this is,” Vijay said as his audience of cadres and functionaries cheered and applauded. In his 14-minute speech, the actor-turned-politician refrained from directly naming DMK, BJP, or the word ‘Hindi’ though his criticisms were aimed at them. He said TVK respected all languages while advocating for individual choices.
Referring to Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor as his brother, Vijay said he was interested in collaborating with the former poll strategist to uphold secular and democratic ideals “in Tamil Nadu and beyond”. This collaboration will not compromise his party’s ideological principles, he said, adding that TVK is an emerging “primary political force” in TN, aiming to create a historic impact in the upcoming 2026 assembly election, comparable to the 1967 and 1977 elections.
Defending his choice of young people and those from humble background for party positions, Vijay attributed the victories of former chief ministers C N Annadurai and M G Ramachandran in the 1967 and 1977 elections respectively to youngsters. “Our party is for ordinary people. Our functionaries will also come from humble backgrounds. Ours is not for the pannaiyar (landlord),” Vijay said, accusing those in politics of acting like landlords. TVK will democratically remove these landlords, who are more concerned with personal gains rather than public service, he said.
Noting that TVK was stepping into the second year with “no fear or anxiety”, Vijay said certain sections were feeling threatened by his entry into politics. “Politics is different. You will never know who will oppose or support whom and when. There are no permanent friends or foes in politics,” he said, announcing plans for a conference for booth-level agents soon. Vijay also launched the signature campaign ‘#GetOut’ to protest against the state and central govt’s policies and governance.