Month after formally launching party, Vijay to release book on Ambedkar

Chennai: Over a month after the formal launch of his Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), actor-politician Vijay will on Friday release a book on India’s first law minister B R Ambedkar, who is one of the “guiding lights” of his fledgling party, being published by a leading Tamil media house.

The launch of ‘Ambedkar: Leader for All’, is being watched closely by political observers in Tamil Nadu as the book was originally planned to be released by Thol Thirumavalavan, leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a prominent Dalit party and a key ally of the DMK and Congress.

The organisers inviting Vijay for the launch irked Thirumavalavan, who apparently didn’t want to share the dais with the actor-politician. Vijay had in his party’s first state conference on October 27 identified the DMK as his “political enemy”, which is the prime reason for the VCK chief to pull out of the event.

While Vijay will release the book, which is a collection of articles on the life teachings of Ambedkar, retired Madras High Court judge Justice K Chandru, and activist Anand Teltumbde will also participate in the event. The actor’s participation in the event comes after he announced Ambedkar as one of the “guiding lights” of his TVK, with an eye on Dalits, who have voted in large numbers for the DMK-VCK alliance in the past few elections.

TVK sources told DH that Vijay will share his thoughts about Ambedkar and the relevance of his teachings besides touching upon major political issues of the state.

“He is likely to shed light on why he chose Ambedkar as one of the icons of his party along with K Kamaraj, E V Periyar, and women freedom fighters, Anjalai Ammal, and Velu Nachiyar. He will also talk about politics,” the source added.

Thirumavalavan, who shares a good rapport with Chief Minister M K Stalin, avoided sharing the stage with Vijay as he felt it wouldn’t go down well with its senior alliance partner, DMK. Already, VCK is under the scanner after the party gave an “open invitation” to the AIADMK for its anti-liquor conference and posted cryptic tweets on share in power.

However, Thirumavalavan has made it clear that the VCK continues to be part of the DMK alliance and will contest the 2026 assembly elections as part of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA).

VCK believed Thirumavalavan was the “right person” to release the book as he is a practising Ambedkarite and underlined the fact that its general secretary Aadhav Arjuna is the co-publisher of the book, while raising concerns over Vijay’s participation in the event.

On Thursday, VCK spokesperson Vanni Arasu said Thirumavalavan never said he will not attend the event with Vijay. “All that my leader said was he cannot share the stage with someone (Vijay) who holds the Constitution on one hand and Bhagavad Gita on the other. How can we join hands with someone who compromises on his ideology?” he asked.

Beyond Vijay’s opposition to DMK, VCK is also worried about losing out a section of its voters to the TVK, which has made Ambedkar one of its five “guiding lights.” VCK, an influential Dalit party with a considerable clout in northern Tamil Nadu, is considered one of the top vote multipliers for the DMK alliance.