Vijay likens upcoming Tamil Nadu polls to MGR's 1977 triumph; says 'whistle' will end DMK-AIADMK domination

Chennai: Likening the 2026 assembly elections to the 1977 polls when the legendary M G Ramachandran overthrew the DMK regime, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay on Monday said the people of Tamil Nadu were ready to blow the “whistle” in the April-May assembly elections, which “will end the domination” of both the DMK and the AIADMK.

Projecting his TVK as the “pure force” of Tamil Nadu politics, Vijay tore into the DMK for "replicating the same tactics" and taunts the party strategy used against late MGR when he launched the AIADMK in the 1970s and asked the ruling party to at least change its “tactics” in the digital era.

In his 17-minute speech at the third anniversary celebrations of the TVK , Vijay mostly played to the gallery by targeting the DMK and AIADMK, and did not talk about key issues, including the criticism that the state has been “left out” in the Union Budget.

Vijay’s speech, in which he once again indirectly admitted that it would be a triangular contest between the DMK, AIADMK, and TVK, was significant since it is becoming increasingly clear that his party would contest the elections independently. Efforts to stitch together an alliance didn’t yield results, as almost all parties had joined either the DMK or AIADMK alliances; the Congress and DMK are also inching towards overcoming their differences and announcing their seat-sharing arrangement.

The actor-politician also responded to the criticism that he had been largely absent from the field in true filmy style, saying Vijay lives in “every household” in Tamil Nadu and that they will come out on the polling day to cast their votes for the TVK.

Further playing to the gallery, Vijay said if saint-poet Thiruvalluvar were alive today, he would have written a couplet against the DMK which would be “injustice, anarchy, mischief -- these are DMK's first world”, which was lapped up by his supporters who asked him to repeat it twice.

Recalling a 1977 interview of MGR in which he had said that he could not fathom his friend-turned-foe M Karunanidhi occupying the Chief Minister’s chair that was once occupied by stalwarts like K Kamaraj and C N Annadurai, Vijay said the people of the state were once again shedding tears because Edappadi K Palaniswami and M K Stalin had governed Tamil Nadu.

“The movement that will wipe away the tears of the people is TVK. DMK deployed several tactics to oppose MGR. They even mocked Kamaraj. But the people defeated the DMK and crowned MGR. Decades have passed but their tactics remain the same. They dig up 50-year-old clips and roll them around like a ball,” Vijay added.

Besides terming the AIADMK as a “corrupt force”, Vijay also belittled the party by referring to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by it as the one headed by the BJP. Vijay also dismissed opinion polls predicting that his party would secure about 15 to 20 percent of votes, saying no one will accept such “manufactured polls as even Chief Minister M K Stalin would say -- he will vote for TVK’s whistle if woken up from deep sleep."

“Our symbol has reached every nook and corner of the state, so don’t believe these polls. In Tamil Nadu politics, the whistle blower is the TVK. When our people blow this whistle, evil (DMK) and corrupt (AIADMK) forces will flee terrified. TVK will rise to rule Fort St. George (the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government),” Vijay added.