Vijay gets ready for his party’s first conference as his film G.O.A.T. releases on Thursday

Chennai: As his penultimate film, albeit for now, G.O.A.T., releases across the globe on Thursday, popular Tamil actor Vijay is preparing for his grand entry into politics by organising a mega rally by September-end. During the rally, he will unveil his party’s “ideological framework” and spell out his stand on several issues concerning Tamil Nadu.

One of the highest-paid actors in India, Vijay had on February 2 announced the launch of Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) and followed it up by unveiling the flag and anthem of the party in August.

The party plans to hold its first conference on September 23 and has zeroed-in on Vikravandi on the Chennai-Tiruchirapalli National Highway as the location, but permission from police and other departments haven’t come so far with the state government reportedly seeking “answers for too many questions".

TVK will be the newest party in the already crowded political space in Tamil Nadu, where Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, still command about 70 per cent vote share along with their long-time alliance partners, BJP and other parties like Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) attempting to portray themselves as change agents.

The state-level conference is expected to draw crowds from across Tamil Nadu and fans from all southern states, especially Kerala where Vijay commands a huge support base. Ahead of the conference, Vijay is said to be reading the works of B R Ambedkar, E V R Periyar, and speeches of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Kamaraj, among others.

“He will unveil his party’s ideological framework at the conference. He will explain to the masses what he means by ushering in a fundamental political change in Tamil Nadu. It will not be a regular political speech, but Vijay’s ideology will be crystal clear to the people on that day. We are planning to make the speech interesting,” a source in Vijay’s camp told DH.

G.O.A.T. directed by Venkat Prabhu will hit screens across the world on Thursday with expectations that the movie will break several records in box office collection. Vijay is likely to do another film before he bids adieu to cinema, a field that he dominated for the past 25 years.

Sources told DH that Vijay’s transition into a politician is being done carefully as efforts are being made to not repeat the mistakes of actors who couldn’t succeed in politics.

“The gestation period from the announcement to full-throttle entry is one year as it takes time for people to accept him as a politician. The conference is also a partial entry,” a source in the know of Vijay’s strategy said, adding that the actor will take the full political plunge in February 2025 after he completes his last movie.

Another source said Vijay, apart from reading Ambedkar and Periyar, is also “studying the minds of people” by looking carefully at comments made on social media on his political entry.

Vijay’s party will subscribe to the modern version of Dravidian ideology that will also encompass Tamil pride and nationalism. “Majority of Tamils are still rooted to the Dravidian ideology and Vijay will take that route to reach out to the people. He will, through his tours and speeches, show how different he will be from the existing Dravidian parties,” the source added.

Vijay joins the long list of actors who have joined politics in Tamil Nadu, including M G Ramachandran, J Jayalalithaa, Sivaji Ganesan, Vijayakanth, and Kamal Haasan.

While the first two made it big in politics like in the silver screen, the last three couldn’t register much success, though Vijayakanth briefly altered the bipolar politics in the state. Superstar Rajinikanth didn’t enter politics citing his ill-health after promising to launch a party and contest the 2021 elections.