Opinion Express View on actor Vijay’s TVK: A new party is born

At the first conference of his newly-formed party on Sunday, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), actor-turned-politician Vijay sought to carve out a space that claims continuity with the Dravidian movement while recognising that the central pole of national politics is now the BJP. In his speech, Vijay invoked Periyar, B R Ambedkar and K Kamaraj, supported the caste census and spoke of expanding the welfare net for women, children and the elderly. In what appeared to be an allusion to the BJP, Vijay spoke against “divisive forces”. At the same time, in a departure from the DMK’s atheist rationalism, he said that “we won’t be taking only one thing that Periyar said — the anti-God position. We have no stake in a politics that denies God”. Vijay also attacked “corrupt family politics” and spoke of the need to evolve newer forms of political communication.

Whether the TVK can cash in on Vijay’s popularity politically — his fan clubs are certainly a launching pad in rural and peri-urban areas — will be known only after the 2026 assembly polls. Actors in Tamil Nadu politics have had a mixed record — from the massive popularity of MGR to the poor performance of Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam. Now, Vijay’s articulation of TVK’s agenda raises both ideological and structural questions about the state’s politics. The AIADMK has been in decline since J Jayalalithaa’s death and the DMK has become, like so many other regional parties, a family firm with M K Stalin succeeding M Karunanidhi and anointing his son Udhayanidhi as his deputy. While the “Dravidian model” of governance has seen successes, its politics has arguably stagnated in terms of leadership and ideology.

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Tamil Nadu is not the only state where new entrants are attempting to make a mark. The AAP began its journey as an anti-corruption — even anti-politician — movement, helmed by “self-made” professionals, keen on establishing a civic solutionism-based governance model. In Bihar, Prashant Kishor has launched the Jan Suraaj party. There, as in Tamil Nadu, a generation of socialist leaders — Lalu Prasad the most prominent among them — who emerged in the prelude to and during the Emergency, is waning; their party leadership is also in the grip of dynasty. Kishor, too, has made a welfarist, social justice-based pitch and appealed to the aspirational youth. These new entrants into politics have a challenging road ahead: First, because the barrier to entry in a field with established players is high in a large and complex polity. Second, new political parties often slip into the same patterns as those they seek to replace. Third, their “new” ideas are often coopted and domesticated by established players in the polity.