At Parapathi in Madurai district, where Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) staged its second state-level conference on Thursday, people turned out in numbers seen as unusually high even by Tamil Nadu’s standards. “Some now ask how someone who came from shooting (on film sets) can suddenly take power,” Vijay said. “Do not think this Vijay is only among lakhs of people at rallies. This is not just a vote, it will be a hunt against an anti-people regime. My bond is only with the people.”

While social media groups aligned with the DMK dismissed the turnout as another “first day, first show” performance familiar to Tamil Nadu’s cinema culture, top DMK strategists, according to party sources, privately judged that a “massive Vijay wave” might actually help them by splitting Opposition votes and diluting anti-incumbency sentiment. But they admit that if his growth is steady, the relief for DMK may not last beyond the 2026 Assembly polls.

Vijay’s speech saw a calculated reach for disillusioned cadres of the AIADMK and Vijayakanth’s DMDK, for minority voters and for anti-BJP segments.

He invoked the name of M G Ramachandran (MGR), the matinee idol and founder of the AIADMK, multiple times, signalling his intention to woo the Dravidian party’s disaffected base.

“I never got the chance to be close to MGR,” Vijay said, adding, “A lion is always unique. When a lion roars once, it echoes up to 8 kilometres. Such a lion comes out only for the hunt, not for amusement. The lion only attacks living, strong animals, and it wins. It will not touch the dead or the rotten. Such a lion does not touch everything, but if it touches, it never lets go. The lion defines the boundaries of the forest itself. It may be with the herd, but it also comes alone, unafraid. Even if alone, it remains the king of the jungle.”

He went on: “I did not get the opportunity to know MGR personally. But I did have the chance to closely know Vijayakanth, who had the same qualities as MGR. He, too, was from Madurai. I can never forget him.”

On stage, the actor embraced his father, film director S A Chandrasekhar, and mother, Shoba, who rose when he arrived, only to be urged back into their seats by their son. He later hoisted the TVK flag, after paying floral tribute to the portraits of the party’s ideological inspirations, and led cadres in a pledge.

“Our only ideological enemy is the BJP, our political enemy is the DMK,” Vijay told the gathering. “When Tamil brothers and sisters all over the world are with us, why should we have any secret alliance with the fascist BJP? Are we some great corrupt party?”

“In 2026, the contest will only be between two parties. One is TVK, the other is DMK,” he said.

The conference, titled ‘History of Victory Returns, Tamil Nadu in a March of Triumph’, was the second major rally since the party’s formation. The first was held at Vikravandi in 2024. This time, the ambition was clear — to announce TVK as a state-wide challenger.

Declaring that his decision to contest the 2026 elections would symbolise the presence of TVK candidates in all 234 constituencies, Vijay teased the crowd with a false start about his own candidacy. “Declaring that he was going to make a surprise announcement on the party’s poll candidate, TVK president Vijay went on to state that he will be contesting in Madurai East Assembly constituency, paused for a moment and went on to list the nine other Assembly constituencies in Madurai district,” read an official statement. And he said, “…it would mean that I am contesting if TVK cadres are contesting in each of the 234 constituencies across Tamil Nadu” and that a vote for TVK would mean a vote for Vijay.

Vijay reserved some of his sharpest barbs for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi is in power for the third time. Did you come entirely to do good? Or to conspire against Muslims?” he asked. “As a representative of the people, I must ask you a few questions. More than 800 Tamil Nadu fishermen have been attacked. At least now, will you return Katchatheevu so that fishermen can live safely? Because of your stubbornness, the NEET exam has caused many injustices. It pains me to even say it. Just declare there is no need for NEET. Will you do that?”

“On one side, there is a direct fascist BJP slave alliance, on the other side, a covert BJP-RSS alliance. Do you have a plan to make corrupt, people-less parties bend to you and continue your luxury ride till 2029? Even if you make direct or covert alliances, just as water will not stick to a lotus leaf, the people of Tamil Nadu will not stick with you. BJP could not even win a single MP seat, so it is now resorting to deceit. BJP hides the Keeladi civilisation and does ‘underground’ work,” he said.

Vijay’s attacks on Stalin were pointed. He accused the DMK government of cheating women, government employees and other sections of people with false poll promises.

And then, in perhaps the most quoted moment of the evening, he drew laughter and cheers with his jibe: “Is it that you oppose as though you are opposing ideology, and then go ally with the BJP…? When you are in the Opposition, you say, ‘Go away, Modi.’ But once you come to power, you say ‘Come, Modi.’ Stalin uncle, it’s very wrong, uncle.”

For Vijay’s supporters, Thursday’s rally marked not just the continuation of a film star’s political experiment but the consolidation of an Opposition force. The priority list he laid out included “the safety of women, girl children and the elderly,” as well as “the welfare of youth, farmers, labourers, weavers, fisherfolk, disabled, elderly and trans persons who require special attention.”