In his first major public meeting after assuming office on Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay took on critics of his dress, assailed the DMK’s political culture and projected the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam as the main political force in the state.
Speaking at a Thanksgiving Rally here, Vijay wondered why his choice of clothes had become a subject of political controversy and remarked that clothing was not a privilege of the powerful.
“Now there are multiple individuals talking about us wearing suits. Why can’t we wear a tuxedo? Are suits exclusively for the powerful? “There’s nothing like that,” he told fans.
Vijay claimed his clothes delivered a message and not a fashion statement. “Am I wearing suits in different colours? Two hues alone, black and white. It is only to show that Vijay will be black and white in all the things. I don’t have to tell you what that black stands for,” he said.
The statements came during a gathering intended to thank voters after TVK’s maiden Assembly election triumph, which catapulted the actor-turned-politician to the Chief Minister’s office.
I’M YOUR VIJAY
The Chief Minister also addressed to similarities drawn between his debut in elections and those of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M G Ramachandran, widely known as MGR.
They say even late CM MGR did not get as much vote share in his very first election. Even today you have given so much of assistance to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. I am not comparing myself with MGR, MGR is MGR but I am your Vijay who has come to work on the route established by MGR, Anna and Periyar,” he remarked.
Vijay addressing his supporters at the ground of St Joseph’s College thanked the people for endorsing TVK. He said that Tiruchirappalli East was close to his heart even as he retained the Perambur Assembly seat.
Now, they call me the MLA of the Perambur constituency. That is just as per the norms and regulations of the Election Commission. But for me, the people of Tiruchirappalli constituency are also very, very close to my heart,” he added.
DMK IN FIRING LINE:
Vijay took the rally as an opportunity to sharpen his attack on the DMK, accusing the party of continuing to speak out despite TVK having been in power for just a few weeks. “Just a few weeks have passed since I came into power but those who said they would not speak for six months could not even remain silent for six days,” he said.
He said the DMK’s “family-centric” agenda was the reason for its failure in the April 23 Assembly election and contended that voters had chosen a different political route.
“Two people who have been cheating you for years, taking turns, you have rejected. You have chosen your Vijay, your elder brother, your younger brother who came to work for you genuinely. You made him not the Chief Minister, but your first servant,” he remarked.
Vijay further denied the charges of horse-trading levied against him by political adversaries and accused both DMK and AIADMK of seeking to establish the government notwithstanding the public result.
He did not name the AIADMK but said there was not much political room between the DMK and TVK.
“I’m saying this even now in a political sense. The battle is only between two parties. One is the DMK and the other is the TVK. “There is no role, no place for anybody in between,” he continued.
TVK’S FUTURE ROADMAP
“The people have made me the first sewak, not Chief Minister,” he added, exuding confidence about the future and saying TVK has smashed boundaries of caste, religion and cash-for-votes politics and pledged that his government will remain devoted to secularism and the rights of Tamil Nadu.
Expressing confidence in the growth of his party, Vijay continued, “Today I am firmly convinced that I will continue to receive your wholehearted support in all the elections to come in the future.”
It was Vijay’s first big display of political muscle since assuming office on 10 May after his party, TVK, won 108 seats in the Assembly election and established the government, heralding its advent as a significant force in Tamil Nadu politics.
