Vijay only had to say, “The candidate in Perambur Assembly constituency is” to see the entire hall of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) faithful at a star hotel in Chennai erupt into applause. He waited for the adulation to subside before announcing the name, C Joseph Vijay.
There was no build-up or anticipation when he moved to Tiruchi East next. The name of the candidate, C Joseph Vijay, took many by surprise.
Rewind 48 hours, when the party had planned to precede the announcement with a public meeting in Perambur, situated in north Chennai. Call it a coincidence or a deliberate move, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board dug a trench to carry out repair work close to the proposed venue. Simultaneously, permission to hold the meeting was refused on technical grounds. To the TVK, it seemed like a metaphor for the lack of a level playing field in Tamil Nadu’s elections. It took a visit by Vijay to the Chief Electoral Officer to secure the nod to hold the meeting on Monday.
Barring leaders like KA Sengottaiyan and CT Nirmal Kumar, who migrated from the AIADMK, and TVK old-timers Aadhav Arjuna and N Anand, most of the candidates contesting on TVK tickets are unknown faces, making their electoral debut. In fact, reflecting the lack of depth in the TVK ranks, several last-minute entrants from the DMK, Congress and AIADMK secured tickets, hoping to ride the Vijay wave. One of the candidates from a constituency in Chennai is the son of Vijay’s former driver, and the party has showcased this to underline that personal loyalty and calibre matter. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Jayalalithaa model, where AIADMK loyalists voted in her name without focusing on individual candidates. As Vijay himself said at a public meeting earlier, every constituency will have a ‘Vijay’ as the TVK candidate.
With most candidates relatively unknown in the political sphere, the spotlight has been on Perambur and Tiruchi East. Vijay’s political opponents have predictably described his decision to contest from two seats as a “foolhardy” attempt to keep his feet in two boats. In fact, he appears to have borrowed another leaf from Jayalalithaa’s playbook, in 1991, she contested from Bargur and Kangeyam to assert dominance across regions.
Both Perambur and Tiruchi East are urban and semi-urban constituencies, meaning a significant section of the electorate comprises Vijay’s fan base, a factor that could translate into votes. Perambur is a working-class seat, while Tiruchi East has a sizeable Christian voter population. To that extent, the move appears designed to secure victory in both seats for ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay.
But look beyond the obvious and it becomes clear that considerable political thought has gone into the decision. Contesting from a Chennai seat with a strong blue-collar electorate is symbolic. It allows Vijay to tap into his ‘Jana Nayagan’ (leader of the people) image.
Moreover, Chennai has long been a DMK fortress, and choosing to contest from a constituency just 5 km from Chief Minister MK Stalin’s Kolathur seat appears aimed at unsettling the ruling party. It is a bold move for a party with limited organisational strength, turning the contest into a David versus Goliath battle. In Perambur, Vijay will face the well-entrenched DMK legislator RD Sekhar, making the contest far from risk-free. With the NDA allotting the seat to a relatively weak PMK, it is likely to become a direct DMK versus TVK contest. There could even be a strategic shift of votes from the NDA to the DMK to prevent the rise of a new political force.
The decision to contest from the delta region in central Tamil Nadu is equally strategic. It allows Vijay to break the ‘actor’ stereotype, counter accusations of being Chennai-centric, and project himself as a pan-Tamil Nadu leader. With a presence in both the industrial landscape of Perambur and the fertile Cauvery delta, it is a calculated attempt to connect the working class of the north with the agrarian base of the south.
Contesting from Tiruchi, often referred to as Tamil Nadu’s political capital, will compel both Dravidian parties, strong in central and southern Tamil Nadu, to sharpen their narrative against him. While the AIADMK won Tiruchi East in 2011 and 2016 under Jayalalithaa, the DMK secured a decisive victory in 2021, winning by over 53,000 votes. The sitting DMK legislator, Inigo Irudayaraj, enjoys considerable goodwill among the Christian community, and this local advantage could work against Vijay, who may be seen as a parachute candidate.
A narrative gaining ground is that the TVK could meet the same fate as Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party in Bihar, which also fielded largely unknown candidates. What this comparison overlooks, however, is Vijay’s larger-than-life appeal in Tamil Nadu. Unlike other parties that often mobilise crowds through incentives, Vijay draws thousands organically to his public meetings. The key question is how much of this adulation converts into votes.
Incidentally, Vijay’s 2019 blockbuster Bigil, which in North Chennai slang means ‘whistle’, and is also the TVK’s election symbol, was set in Royapuram. In the film, Vijay plays a father-son double role: Rayappan, an ageing North Madras don, and Michael, a footballer-turned-protector. Perambur and nearby areas like Pulianthope and Vyasarpadi are known for producing football talent. By contesting from north Chennai, Vijay is tapping into a subculture he once romanticised on screen. If voters blow the final whistle on the status quo on April 23, he may yet score a decisive goal.
(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)
