Abolition of the governor’s post, a shift from traditional reservation systems to a proportional representation model, and a two-language policy prioritizing Tamil — that is what Tamil Nadu can expect from Vijay’s new party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The Tamil superstar’s political career kicked off on a major high on Sunday (October 27) with a three lakh-strong crowd thronging the venue for the TVK’s first state conference at Vikiravandi village in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district. Education seems to hold a major place in the TVK’s agenda, with the party aiming to reintegrate education into the state list, establish Kamarajar Model Schools across the state, and create a dedicated university for information technology to boost the state’s tech sector. TVK to contest 2026 polls The party, promoting gender equality in politics, pledges to reserve one-third of seats in the party and assembly for women. Vijay also stressed that proportional representation based on the caste census is the only solution to provide social justice for all. The TVK also intends to decentralize administration and improve local governance by establishing a new branch of the state secretariat in Madurai. The environment has also not missed out a place in the party’s vision with the protection of water bodies and a special law against sand quarrying being among its stated policies. Vijay also made it clear that the TVK will contest the 2026 state Assembly polls and took several veiled digs at the ruling DMK. He said his fight was against separatists and corrupt politicians. Separatists are the TVK’s ideological enemy, while a political party (read DMK) that talks about the Dravidian model and yet continues to engage in dynastic politics would be its political enemy. By the look of things, the newest player to join the pantheon of the next line of leaders in the state is expected give tough competition to the likes of DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin and NTK’s Seeman. Event preponed after crowd surge A mammoth crowd had gathered to hear their “Thalapathy” (commander), as Vijay is fondly known as among his fans, as he addressed his first public rally as a politician. In fact, such was the surge of the crowd, despite the sweltering heat, that the organisers decided to prepone its inauguration by an hour. Ahead of the conference, the actor had urged volunteers to prioritise their safety during the event. “…Because you and your safety are important to me in all aspects, so you all should be very careful about conference travel safety. Better to avoid cycling. I say this for your safety,” he posted on X. He had also urged participants to follow traffic rules while coming to the conference and avoid disturbing the public. However, traffic came to a standstill for some 4 km on the road to the venue as Vijay’s fans and supporters made their way to his debut political rally. Check out The Federal’s exclusive stories on the topic: Watch | Actor Vijay banking on 'Tamil nationalism' in Dravidian heartland?Read: Vijay ready for first TVK meet; TN all ears for actor’s debut speech as politician Watch | Vijay lacks foundation in politics, says political commentator Vijay ShankarFollow this space for The Federal’s live coverage of the event.
Abolition of the governor’s post, a shift from traditional reservation systems to a proportional representation model, and a two-language policy prioritizing Tamil — that is what Tamil Nadu can expect from Vijay’s new party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The Tamil superstar’s political career kicked off on a major high on Sunday (October 27) with a three lakh-strong crowd thronging the venue for the TVK’s first state conference at Vikiravandi village in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district. Education seems to hold a major place in the TVK’s agenda, with the party aiming to reintegrate education into the state list, establish Kamarajar Model Schools across the state, and create a dedicated university for information technology to boost the state’s tech sector. TVK to contest 2026 polls The party, promoting gender equality in politics, pledges to reserve one-third of seats in the party and assembly for women. Vijay also stressed that proportional representation based on the caste census is the only solution to provide social justice for all. The TVK also intends to decentralize administration and improve local governance by establishing a new branch of the state secretariat in Madurai. The environment has also not missed out a place in the party’s vision with the protection of water bodies and a special law against sand quarrying being among its stated policies. Vijay also made it clear that the TVK will contest the 2026 state Assembly polls and took several veiled digs at the ruling DMK. He said his fight was against separatists and corrupt politicians. Separatists are the TVK’s ideological enemy, while a political party (read DMK) that talks about the Dravidian model and yet continues to engage in dynastic politics would be its political enemy. By the look of things, the newest player to join the pantheon of the next line of leaders in the state is expected give tough competition to the likes of DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin and NTK’s Seeman. Event preponed after crowd surge A mammoth crowd had gathered to hear their “Thalapathy” (commander), as Vijay is fondly known as among his fans, as he addressed his first public rally as a politician. In fact, such was the surge of the crowd, despite the sweltering heat, that the organisers decided to prepone its inauguration by an hour. Ahead of the conference, the actor had urged volunteers to prioritise their safety during the event. “…Because you and your safety are important to me in all aspects, so you all should be very careful about conference travel safety. Better to avoid cycling. I say this for your safety,” he posted on X. He had also urged participants to follow traffic rules while coming to the conference and avoid disturbing the public. However, traffic came to a standstill for some 4 km on the road to the venue as Vijay’s fans and supporters made their way to his debut political rally. Check out The Federal’s exclusive stories on the topic: Watch | Actor Vijay banking on 'Tamil nationalism' in Dravidian heartland?Read: Vijay ready for first TVK meet; TN all ears for actor’s debut speech as politician Watch | Vijay lacks foundation in politics, says political commentator Vijay ShankarFollow this space for The Federal’s live coverage of the event.