Reminiscent of his political dialogue from  Sarkar (2018), actor Vijay delivered a charged speech slamming both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) during his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK)’s first state-level conference, in Vikravandi on Sunday, October 27.

The actor made it clear that the TVK’s main ideological opponent is the BJP, followed by the DMK, its political enemy in the state, which “passes off anti-people governance as the Dravidian model of governance.” Taking a swipe at the ruling party, he said, “They go on about ‘fascism, fascism, fascism’ and what are they [DMK]? Payasam?”, implying that the DMK is no different from the BJP in terms of sectarian politics. Payasam is a sweet delicacy made of rice, popular in the state.

Vijay arrived at the venue to tremendous cheers at around 4:00pm after which he moved into the crowd via a special ramp built for the occasion. Stating that the TVK is opposed to “hate politics”, Vijay said, “Our fundamental belief is that we are born equal. Do I need to tell you who that goes against? The people who are ruining this country with divisive rhetoric [BJP] are our ideological enemies. The family that is concerned with only its self-interest; who are making claims of ‘Dravidian model’ and abusing the names of Periyar and Anna Durai while exploiting the people—they are our political enemies.” 

Earlier during the event, a voice over of Vijay’s was heard saying: “I am coming [to power] to work for you with secular, social justice ideologies.” Further emphasising this in his speech, he later said, “There is no one higher or lower in the hierarchy here. Everyone is equal here, they are the party’s ideal.”

The star also spoke against anti-welfare politics. “There are people who go around saying ‘give a person a fish, they will eat for a day. Teach a person how to fish, and they will eat every day’. We are not those people. Let those who can fish, by all means do so and sustain themselves. We will feed those who can’t,” Vijay said.

Mocking the online trend of DMK supporters calling anyone who disagrees with the party a ‘sanghi’. Vijay further said, “There is a group of people going about with paint boxes, but no one changes the colours TVK has chosen for itself.”

He also added, “People are asking why Periyar is one of our ideological leaders. We will never take up Periyar’s atheism. We are not atheists. As Anna Durai said, we believe that ‘there is only one god, one people’. But Periyar believed in the education and progress of women, in social change and rationality. So we accept him as our ideological leader.” 

As expected, TVK’s ideological leaders apart from Periyar, are to be: Dr BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai, the first queen to have waged war against the East India Company in 1780, and Anjalai Ammal, who participated in the freedom struggle and was called ‘south India’s Jhansi Rani’. 

The party took a left-of-centre stance, as was expected by many. It has reiterated several values held by Dravidian parties such as the two-language policy, enhanced state autonomy, and the demand to move education from the Concurrent list to the State list. The party also pledged to get rid of the governor’s post, open a bench of the Secretariat in Madurai, as well as reserve one-third of election tickets and Assembly seats for women.

The TVK has, however, taken a different stance regarding reservations, calling for a state-wide caste census and proportional representation instead.