The Karur Incident. The rise of a hypocrite leader or another fall of an actor turned politician?

 

TVK (Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam) and its leader Vijay’s political career can be distinguished as before and after ‘The Karur Incident’. The developments after the dreadful incident in Karur, where 41 civilians had been suffocated to death in a stampede, will either sow the seeds for a new leader or witness yet another failure of an actor turned politician. Whereas the chance of the latter happening is more prominent, considering the magnitude of the incident, it is still possible to say that Vijay can make a positive political career out of all this. For that to happen, the political decisions of the TVK leader should be more critical. It is also important to note that if Vijay makes all the decisions that lead him to become the future leader, then the leader we get might not be such a charismatic one, but rather a hypocritical leader. And Vijay had already taken the steps to be one such leader.

In the video he posted two days after the tragic incident, Vijay failed to take responsibility as a leader. Instead, he sympathized with the victims in a manner that he was also the victim of that tragic day, blaming the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party for being the reason for the tragedy. Now, I am not claiming that the ruling party did or did not conspire against Vijay; that is something for the court and the investigators to decide. But as a leader of a party, whose campaign was the place of a tragedy, Vijay should not have acted as the victim here. TVK is not the victim here; it’s the people, waiting more than 7 hours to see their star politician; they are the victims.

Even if we consider the claim of TVK that DMK is the reason for the incident as true, there are still questions that need to be answered before coming to that conclusion. Why did Vijay come to the campaign 7 hours late? (which led to an increase in the number of people) Why did Vijay not try to take control of the situation instead went directly to Chennai? It was evident that the purpose of the crowd was to see this man, so Vijay should be wholly responsible as the leader of TVK for the incident. But he does the very opposite of it in his video.

What does TVK stand for is the question, not what it is standing against!

On the first campaign of TVK held in October 2024, everyone was eager to know what difference this party could bring, and what ideologies Vijay takes up the stand for. Even after one year of that campaign, the political ideology of TVK remains unclear. But Vijay was not hesitant to declare what he was up against. He declared that his political enemy is DMK (even though TVK is also a movement for Dravidian ideology). He declared that in the aspects of ideologies, TVK is against the BJP’s fascist approach. So, AIADMK also becomes their rival as both the BJP and AIADMK have allied. He presented his ideologies by declaring who he is fighting against, which still leaves a hole in what TVK stands for instead of what it is standing against.

Now, the reason I brought this up is to understand how Vijay is paving his way to be one of the hypocritical leaders. In the 4-minute video he posted, there are a lot of things that need to be discussed, but the one that caught my attention is when he showed his gratitude to the political leaders who stood by him during this time of crisis. Again, people are the victims here, not TVK. The lives of 41 civilians became the key for all political parties to blame others or act as victims. Who are the political leaders that Vijay gave a big shout-out to in his reaction video, yes, reaction video, more like YouTubers than real politicians? The BJP and AIADMK are those who are openly supporting TVK, claiming that all these are conspiracy theories of the DMK to sabotage Vijay’s party.

During his acting career, on many occasions, Vijay supported the DMK party and praised the then chief minister Karunanidhi, Kanimozhi, and Stalin. Those who are his present-day political rivals. But that can be argued in favor of Vijay, as he might have had to show his support to DMK for maintaining a healthy acting career. Now, after actively declaring his political stand, he is still finding ways to find shelter in what he stood against during his time of crisis. If there is a possible alliance between TVK and BJP or AIADMK in the future, then it will be one of the biggest hypocritical political moves. The foreshadowing of that alliance can be seen in his video.

Conspiracy theories will work in movies, not in politics.

It is not a surprising fact that the crowd that flows onto the campaigns of TVK are those who enjoyed seeing Vijay on the big screen. On stage, Vijay was also successful in bringing his charismatic appearance that we loved in movie scenes. The impact that movies and stars have on Tamil Nadu politics is something that needs no extra explanation. So, when their favourite star is not just acting as a hero in the movies but also in real life, people want to see more of it. The charisma that a leader needs to lead flows effortlessly for Vijay when it comes to appearances and dialogue delivery. But his charisma was nowhere to be seen when real issues started to show against him.

People love conspiracy theories. They love it more when their leader acts victim of those conspiracy theories, what better way is there for a leader to hide away from responsibilities. In all these political games, the lives of 41 civilians whose world politicians like Vijay can never understand, stay amok. They will feed upon your conspiracy theories, unless real leaders who are sure of themselves about what they are standing for show up. Among all these theories, it is needless to say that those 41 civilians and their families were in that campaign only to see their favorite star politician; it takes guts for a leader to own up to his mistakes. That guts is what makes a charismatic leader we see in movies, but in reality, what we get is the one who acts victim and finds shelter in what he once ideologically stood against.

This Karur incident is a major turning point for Vijay’s career. If his followers and people fall for the bait of conspiracy theories and fail to see how TVK is still unsure of what it stands for, then we might give rise to a leader who is charismatic in appearance and dialogue delivery, but a hypocritical one whenever real issues come up. If people start to see beyond stardom and charisma, then Vijay will become yet another failed actor turned politician in the lot.