Vijay says TVK's politics will be centred on people' issues; unveils busts of leaders

Chennai: Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam chief Vijay on Sunday reiterated the party's goal of winning the 2026 Assembly election and appealed to cadres to start working in the right earnest towards that objective.

On the first anniversary of the announcement of the party's launch, Vijay unfurled the party flag and unveiled the busts of Periyar E V Ramasamy, Dr BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, Velu Nachiyar and Anjalai Ammal at the party headquarters here. The leaders are the guiding ideologocial icons of the party.

Vijay, on the occasion, said that the first step towards the "all time goal" of creating a huge respect for party workers among the people by way of their work for the public would be the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, due in 2026.

Recalling the outcome of 1967 and 1977 Assembly elections, when the DMK and AIADMK captured power for the first time respectively, Vijay said a similar outcome is possible in 2026 for TVK with solid work and people's support and the electorate too have started to prepare themselves to support the party.

In order to mark the milestone of party stepping into its second year, Vijay urged party workers to carry out activities for the people's welfare. By working for people, cadres must build a "new confidence" among them and he appealed to them to right away start working for the Assembly polls.

With the party joining forces with the people, the fledgling party's chief exuded confidence of demonstrating his outfit's electoral prowess with "Makkal Sakthi" (People's power) and thereby make a reality, "the landmark democratic event" of sharing power. "You must start working right now towards that great political goal," Vijay said.

The TVK founder had last year offered to share power with potential allies. Since 1967, Dravidian majors DMK and AIADMK had never shared power with their allies and against this background, TVK's offer led to speculations on the possibility of a realignment in political fronts.

In a statement, Vijay affirmed that TVK's politics would avoid attacks on leaders of rival parties at the individual level and it shall be based on people's issues. Be it the Citizenship Amendment Act or opposition to the Parandur airport project here, the party's focus had always been on people's issues, refraining from targeting leaders of rival parties individually and this pattern would continue.

On the one year journey of TVK, Vijay said though it was marked by opposition to his party besides ridicule, he said the party has been honestly marching forward through measured steps with commitment to its ideology, the "secular-social justice principles and politics for the sake of the people." The TVK chief said appointment of functionaries at the level of districts and for the top echelons of the party was ongoing as part of work to strengthen the party apparatus.

Velu Nachiyar, the celebrated queen of Sivaganga of the 18th century is noted for her spirited fight against the British colonial power. Veeramangai is an honorific title to denote her valour. Iconic Congress leader and freedom fighter, K Kamaraj (1903-1975) was a former chief minister noted for his pioneering work. Anajalai Ammal is a noted freedom fighter from Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore region.

On February 2, 2024, Vijay took to social media to announce the launch of his party, "Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam." On that day, an application was filed with the Election Commission to register the party.

At that time, he had said that the move was to more fully serve the Tamil Nadu people as Vijay Makkal Iyakkam --an outfit for people's welfare-- alone would not be able to usher in "complete social, economic and political reforms and political power," was needed for that.

The actor had said that politics was not a profession/industry and that it was a sacred work for the sake of people.

According to Vijay, on January 25, 2024, the party's general council and executive committee meetings were held which elected the party president and top functionaries and party bylaws were also adopted.

In September, 2024, the Election Commission registered TVK and Vijay had expressed confidence of emerging as the primary political party of Tamil Nadu.