Tamil actor Vijay moves court against parents, here’s why

Tamil actor Vijay has filed a civil lawsuit against 11 people including his parents SA Chandrasekhar and Shobha Chandrasekhar in a Chennai court to restrain them from using his name or that of his fan club for any political activity.

The matter is reportedly scheduled to come up for hearing on September 7.

The development comes days after the actor announced that he wouldn’t be entering politics, and ahead of the rural civil body polls in Tamil Nadu (on October 6 and October 9).

Vijay’s father Chandrasekhar, in November last year, floated the political party All India Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, named after the actor’s fan club. While Chandrasekhar named himself as the party’s general secretary, his wife and Vijay’s mother Shobha was made the treasurer. Padmanabhan, another relative and a member of Vijay’s fan club was made the party president. The party was also registered with the Election Commission of India.

Vijay, however, publicly disowned the outfit, and asked his fans and fan club members not to join it as he was not concerned with it in any manner.

“We don’t have any affiliation with that party. Appropriate action would be taken if anyone is found using my photo or name or the name of All India Vijay Makkal Iyakkam for any political agenda,” the actor said in a statement.

Ahead of the rural civic body polls, the actor has now urged the court to put a stay on any meeting or event that are being conducted under his name, while seeking to scrap the deed of the association.

Chandrasekhar started a fan club for Vijay in 1992, a year after the actor debuted in the Tamil film industry. While all fan clubs named after Vijay were used as welfare organisations, in 2009, all of them were brought under the aegis of a single body called Vijay Makkal Iyakkam.

While floating the political outfit under Vijay’s name last year, Chandrasekhar had argued that he doesn’t need to seek permission from his son to use his name as it was him who had started the fan club too. He also clarified that the party was a culmination of his own political ambitions and has nothing to do with Vijay.

However, Vijay’s mother Shobha in a later media interaction admitted that Chandrasekhar had not sought her son’s permission before starting the party and that she herself was conned into signing as the party treasurer. Shobha said she had refused to sign any other papers after she came to know about Chandrasekhar’s plan to start a political party. She also said that she is not a member of the party anymore.

While the events that followed dissuaded Chandrasekhar from officially launching the party, reports say at a recent meeting at the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam head office, members were given a go-ahead to contest in the local body polls but without using the actor’s or the organisation’s name.