Vijay’s rally tragedy puts star power under the spotlight

Stampede underscores challenges of celebrity politics in Tamil Nadu, and highlights the actor's ambition and uncertainty of his political journey. Shine Jacob explains

- Shine Jacob

A stampede on Saturday at a rally addressed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) President and superstar-turned-politician Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar — popularly known as Vijay and “Thalapathy” — in Karur claimed at least 40 lives and left more than 100 injured.

Vijay’s political gatherings have been drawing huge crowds in recent months. But immediately after the tragedy, the actor took a special flight back to Chennai, while Chief Minister M K Stalin and other Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ministers rushed to the spot — a move critics describe as his political immaturity. On Sunday, the TVK, on the defensive, demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident, alleging a possible DMK conspiracy.

Vijay is India’s second-highest-paid actor, after Allu Arjun, reportedly charging between ₹200 crore and ₹275 crore per film. His political foray seeks to pitch the TVK as an alternative to the DMK, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu. Comparisons with the late former CM MG Ramachandran (MGR) have followed, though many see the parallels as overdrawn.