How Vijay is sparking fear in Tamil Nadu, by not speaking

TVK leader Vijay's poll campaign in Tamil Nadu was defined by near silence. The actor-turned-politician said little, but the TVK won 108 seats (out of 234 seats). Vijay's quiet run, even after the TVK's victory, has raised a bigger question. Can a leader who barely spoke now govern?

In India, a politician's primary task is to talk. Competent or not, most of them do. Even if they were Sphinxes, they would talk. If they were rocks, they would talk. But Thalapathy Vijay hasn't.

A day after the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) became the single largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, with 108 seats, one question remains to be answered, and a rather absurd one. Who exactly is Vijay? The man at the centre of the political tumult in Tamil Nadu has barely spoken.

The actor-turned-politician has made a stunning debut, just two years after launching his party, upending decades of DMK-AIADMK dominance in Tamil Nadu. But the first statement from the TVK came from Vijay's father, SA Chandrasekhar. Not the man himself.

At the time of publication of this report, nearly 48 hours after TVK emerged as the single-largest party, Vijay is yet to speak.

An analysis by The Times of India found that Vijay addressed road shows for just 35 minutes during the final week of campaigning. For comparison, DMK chief MK Stalin spoke for 356 minutes and AIADMK's Edappadi K Palaniswami for 806 minutes.

They say speech is silver, silence is golden, but in Vijay's case, it's suspicious.

While leaders of other poll-bound states filled the airwaves with long campaign speeches, Vijay appeared selectively, delivered short, focussed messages and let his image and party machinery do the rest.

In many parts of Tamil Nadu, voters never saw Vijay in person. The convention in politics says this should have been fatal. Instead, Vijay's silence has now become part of his mystique.

Speaking to India Today Digital, a Chennai-based journalist who has been tracking Tamil Nadu politics for over two decades said, "His entire campaign strategy revolved around just one name — Vijay. Nothing else." The journalist requested anonymity.

Vijay's low-profile approach was evident throughout the campaign. Not only did he not campaign as much as the stalwarts he stood against, he did not even introduce most of the TVK's candidates personally.

"Vijay's campaign technique was simple. Don't overthink about who the candidate is in your constituency. Just think of me — I am standing in every single constituency. Vote for me," senior Madras High Court advocate and an observer of Tamil Nadu politics, Ramya Balakrishnan told India Today Digital.

She added that it's clear Vijay leans heavily on his personal popularity.

VIJAY AND MGR ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE IN TERMS OF POLITICIANS

On being asked about her opinion on Vijay being compared to AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran, the legendary actor who left a mark in Tamil Nadu politics as a towering politician, Balakrishnan, said it was "unfair".

"Vijay can't really say anything of much worth because he has never been in any political work before. He has aimed straight at the top without doing even a basic political internship. That is quite unusual," Chennai-based Balakrishnan told India Today Digital.

The Chennai-based journalist, who requested anonymity, echoed Balakrishnan's view.

"People compare Vijay to MG Ramachandran, but that's not a fair comparison other than the fact that both share an acting background. MGR spent nearly two decades in politics before becoming Chief Minister and had been elected to the Assembly twice. Vijay has zero experience," the journalist said.

It must be noted that MGR's journey was not even close to Vijay's sudden rise. MGR had served as treasurer of the DMK for years. After a major rift with the DMK's M Karunanidhi, he was expelled from the party in 1972, which led him to form the AIADMK. Vijay's path has no such political background or experience.

"He doesn't have experience of even running a political party. TVK is only cult, nothing much. Nothing more, nothing less," the Chennai-based journalist added.

VIJAY'S SILENCE AND HIS LOW-KEY CAMPAIGN IN TAMIL NADU

TVK's campaign leaned heavily on Vijay's decades-long stardom. Thalapathy loyalists turned out in huge numbers to vote for him. Experts say urban pockets especially voted for him.

The party's simple and basic manifesto promised what nearly every political party promises. Jobs, women's safety, education, an end to dynastic corruption, and a drug-free state.

Despite his immense mass appeal, he remained largely silent, rarely speaking for more than five to 15 minutes, often closer to the lower end of that range.

"Vijay treated his election rallies like a movie set. If he made a mistake or fumbled his lines during a speech, he would stop, apologise and restart — just like on a film shoot. This was noticed by many observers during his poll campaign," the lawyer noted.

Much like Vijay himself, TVK's wave was silent too, making it difficult for poll observers to gauge the public mood.

He didn't do a single TV interview and only met a few journalists for off-the-record chats. It's perhaps because he already had the attention needed.

This is not new to Tamil Nadu. The state has a long history of film stars entering politics, from MGR to J Jayalalithaa, but they had done their homework on governance before stepping into political leadership roles.

VIJAY'S STUNT DOUBLES, HOLOGRAMS FILLED UP FOR HIM

Vijay has taken the film star formula further during the poll campaign.

During his campaign, holograms, and at times even stunt doubles, stood in for Vijay.

His films had already built deep emotional trust across households, especially among the young. That trust translated into votes almost overnight, without him having to do much talking.

Analysts and ordinary voters are now asking the same question. Can this enigmatic leader govern? Tamil Nadu faces real challenges, from youth unemployment to the industrial slowdown, to women's safety concerns, and the huge cost of welfare programmes.

Running a state of 7.5 crore people requires administrative skills, coalition management and constant engagement with bureaucracy and media. So far, Vijay has shown little appetite for that.

For now, the people of Tamil Nadu have placed their faith in the enigma, but in the political hood, it's anything but quiet.

As satirist-columnist Kamlesh Singh, the Tau of Teen Taal podcast, calls it, "'Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Somebody took the goat quote seriously. Speaking is risky. Nobody can misquote you if they can't quote you."

- Ends