TVK chief vows ‘new era’ of secular, social justice
CHENNAI, MAY 10 (PTI): Actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay on Sunday took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, ushering in a major political shift after his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly elections and ended the decades-long dominance of the DMK and AIADMK in the state.
Cheered by thousands of supporters at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Vijay was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar along with members of his council of ministers.
Senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, attended the swearing-in ceremony along with family members, party workers and supporters of Vijay.
Among those sworn in as ministers were ‘Bussy’ N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, K A Sengottaiyan, K G Arunraaj, P Venkataramanan, C T R Nirmal Kumar, A Rajmohan, Keerthana and K T Prabhu.
Delivering his first address as chief minister, Vijay declared that “a new era of real, secular, social justice starts now,” pausing dramatically before stressing the word “now”, drawing loud applause and cheers from the crowd.
Before his speech, Vijay signed three major orders — providing 200 units of free electricity, constituting a women’s safety task force and creating a special task force to combat the drug menace.
Speaking in Tamil, Vijay said he did not belong to any royal or political lineage and promised not to betray the trust placed in him by the people. He also accused the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime of burdening the state with a debt of Rs 10 lakh crore.
He asked the people to give his government time to perform and asserted that there would be only “one power centre” in the administration.
Although TVK failed to secure a majority on its own in the 234-member Assembly, Vijay managed to obtain support from the Congress, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and IUML, taking the alliance tally to 120 MLAs and crossing the majority mark of 118.
The successful alliance-building exercise was widely seen as a demonstration of Vijay’s political adaptability beyond his image as a popular film star.
Soon after the ceremony, controversy erupted over the order in which songs were played during the event. The DMK objected to the Tamil anthem ‘Thamizhthai Vaazhthu’ being played after Vande Mataram and the national anthem, alleging disrespect to the state song.
Some of Vijay’s allies also sought an explanation and said such an error should not recur.
TVK, however, clarified that the sequence of songs was decided by the Governor’s office as the swearing-in ceremony was conducted under Raj Bhavan protocol. But the DMK, which has been championing the cause of the Tamil language against HIndi in the run-up to the election, refused to relent, saying it only shows that the TVK is bent towards the BJP.