On 15th April 2026, T Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Actor-turned-politician Thallapati Vijay had a road show scheduled for 4 pm. had begun as early as 11 am. Police barricades were in place across the area, and party workers had set up stages to welcome him. From the morning itself, crowds began gathering on the streets with garlands of flowers, eager to catch a glimpse of Vijay. As Vijay’s rally reached T Nagar, the crowd grew uncontrollable. The moment one man spotted Vijay, he began shouting at the top of his voice, tears streaming down his face — he had been standing in the scorching sun for six hours just for this moment. This frenzy was visible at every corner of the rally. Vijay’s party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), is contesting all 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu alone. Two months ago, Vijay declared that this assembly election is a straight fight between ‘Vijay and Stalin’. We tried to understand what has changed in Tamil Nadu’s politics since Vijay’s entry, and whether the DMK is weakening. Vijay lives in our hearts — and we support his politics too During the road show in Chennai, we met Sangeeta, who had come from her village with friends just to see Vijay. She said, “Vijay lives in all our hearts. We would give our lives for him. Our connection with him is not just that of a film star and fan — we support his politics too, because he is raising issues around women’s safety, drugs, education and corruption. He is speaking about employment for the youth and women.” Asked whether Thallapati would win this time, Sangeeta replied with conviction: “Absolutely. I am not a member of any fan club, but I am a die-hard fan. We support him from the heart. If he comes to power, our problems will be resolved. He will do better for women.” Belief in Vijay’s promises — he will be CM Twenty-one-year-old Faizal is a first-year college student. He and his mother Zaitoon are both huge fans of Vijay. They travelled 450km by bus from Tirupur to Chennai just to catch a glimpse of him. Zaitoon said, The government will change — we want change. Thallapati must come and set everything right. We believe in his promises; everything will be fine. In 2026, Thallapati will become CM. When asked what she likes most about Vijay’s politics, she replied, “His outlook towards women appeals to me greatly. DMK no longer has that strength. We have not come here for money — we have come here for Vijay. We have come here for change.” We also met 61-year-old Elizabeth at the rally. Despite finding it difficult to walk at her age, she came all the way from Villivakkam in Chennai to T Nagar to see Vijay, and then stood against the barricades for three hours amidst thousands of people. Elizabeth said simply, “I have come only to see Vijay. I will support only him.” Those who turned up to see Vijay ranged from 18-year-old youngsters to 61-year-old elders. Vijay does not appear to practise caste politics at his rallies and public meetings. His focus is firmly on women and youth as his vote bank. Through party meetings, TVK is also directly engaging with young people and women. Fan clubs built the structure of Vijay’s party At the rally, we met Chaivanti, a college student from Vellore. She skipped class and travelled 150km in her uniform to attend the rally. Smiling shyly, she said, “We all love Thallapati. We have watched him since childhood — today I want to see him in person.” Chaivanti is also a member of the Vellore Vijay Fan Club. Fan club culture runs deep in Tamil Nadu. Every superstar has fan clubs named after areas and cities, which carry out social work in their favourite star’s name. The stars themselves operate behind these clubs. Across Tamil Nadu, there are hundreds of such fan clubs. Vijay’s fan club has now transformed into a proper party structure, with those who worked in the club given positions within the party. The fan club is not a structured organisation as such — it functions more like a network. The top body of the club is called the ‘All India Thallapati Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’, which has a state president, general secretary and coordinators, all of whom report directly to Vijay. Each coordinator holds data on Vijay’s fans. They network through social media and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram. Through these clubs, content related to Vijay’s new films, posters, songs and social work is distributed to fans through a well-designed system. Vijay is now using this very same system for politics and elections. The party runs on Vijay’s image and decisions alone Unlike DMK and AIADMK, TVK is not an organisationally structured party. It revolves entirely around Vijay’s ‘Thallapati’ (commander) image. Within the party, there is no number two or number three after Vijay — he is the first and final decision-maker. Senior party leaders say that before the elections, preparations were made to appoint around 70,000 booth agents, and they were largely successful in doing so. Various positions and responsibilities were assigned within the party, but these are largely nominal. All these individuals can only advise Vijay — none of them has the standing to challenge him. TVK may be a new party, but it is spending heavily on election campaigning. The party has already held more than 40 mega rallies and road shows. AI technology and robots are also being used in the campaign. Financial details related to the party have not yet been made public. Party sources say that funds have come from three sources: first, Vijay’s personal wealth; second, fan clubs and prominent supporters; and third, candidates who received party tickets. Vijay’s fame is the result of 20 years of fan club effort Vijay may be the supreme authority, but he neither speaks to the media nor gives interviews. TVK leader Felix Gerald is the one who represents the party in the national media. He explained, “Even before Vijay formed a political party, his fan club was running under the name ‘Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ (Vijay Public Movement). It has been active for the past 20 years. Later, it was given the form of a party and rebranded accordingly.” “In the 2021 local elections, 130 fan club leaders contested and most of them won. Vijay had already gauged the ground before formally launching the party. He officially entered politics in 2024, but his fame is the result of 20 years of fan club effort.” When asked whether Vijay’s campaign against CM Stalin and his relatively soft stance towards BJP and AIADMK suggested a post-election arrangement with the BJP, Felix replied firmly, “We are against corruption. DMK is not truly a secular party either. We criticise the BJP as well. Vijay has made it clear that BJP is ideologically opposed to us. The question of supporting them does not arise — we are going to form the government on our own strength.” Expert view: Nothing new in Vijay’s politics, he will get 12–15% of votes D Suresh Kumar, senior journalist at The Hindu, says that while Vijay is Tamil Nadu’s biggest star, his story is very different from that of Jayalalithaa and MGR. Vijay has entered politics at the peak of his career, whereas both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth came to politics when their careers were on the decline. During his election campaign, Vijay has on several occasions introduced himself as Joseph Vijay, emphasising his Christian identity. This could lead a significant section of the Christian and Muslim communities to vote for him. Suresh acknowledged this, saying, “Vijay’s influence is stronger in urban areas. A large section of women and youth will go with him. He is Christian, so he will also receive votes from minorities. He will get at least 12–15% of the vote.” Suresh added that there is nothing new in Vijay’s political ideology. He is practising Dravidian politics, just as DMK and AIADMK have done. His ideological inspirations remain Periyar and Ambedkar. On policy, he supports scrapping NEET, expanding state rights and backing the two-language formula.
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