Tamil actor Joseph Vijay conducted a roadshow at Karur in Tamil Nadu, India, a stampede ensued in which 41 people, including many children, below 5 years of age, lost their lives. Joseph Vijay escaped from the scene, flew to Chennai and shut himself in his palatial house. Later, after other political parties came to his defence, he released two videos, both pathetically incoherent and reprehensible.
Reasons of the stampede : Crowd. Apparently poor crowd control by police. The actor-politician attending the meeting 7 hours after his scheduled time.
Neither the actor, nor his party TVK ( Tamizaka Vetri Kazhakam ) visited the victim’s families to offer condolences, nor did they clarify their stance via a press conference.
This reflects poorly on Joseph Vijay’s leadership capabilities and his organisational set up as a political party. Looks like the actor had begun to believe that just his popularity as a movie actor was enough to become a politician and capture power at the state level.
Let this rest at this stage.
I had written an article on Joseph Vijay’s entry into politics here. I had argued that church backing was the reason behind his political entry. Joseph Vijay, like Sebastian Simon ( aka Seeman ) continues to be a disruptive force that is against the concept of a united India. Though they dare not say so openly, they allude to this by the tools of the trade perfected by missionaries – separatist innuendoes, widening the caste fault lines, harping on the oft-repeated cliches on Ramasamy Naicker, Annadurai Mudaliar and MGR. So, as a writer and analyst, I have no love left for a separatist-in-hiding actor who has a religious backing . ( Nay sayers could refer to the LCD TV relays done by several churches in Madurai of Joseph Vijay’s speeches.)
Jospeh Vijay’s election strategist is John Arokiyasamy. His recent deputy is Aadhav Arjuna, a cash rich heir to a vast lottery empire. Aadhav’s deleted tweet called for a Nepal like uprising by Gen-Zs to overthrow an elected government. What is the common thread running through Jospeh Vijay, Aadhav Arjuna and John Arokiyasamy is anybody’s guess. (John had earlier worked as election strategist for two other disruptive elements – Uddhav Thackeray and Arvind Kejriwal.)
These said and done, the political scene is expectedly hot and is being used by the different political formations to cash on. I wouldn’t fault the politics in these as Jospeh Vijay sought political capital out of his movie aura. Now, all parties- the ruling DMK, Congress, BJP and AIADMK are charting their courses to lure the 18-25 fan following of actor Joseph Vijay into their respective folds. All is fair in love and politics, may be.
Actor Jospeh Vijay is a classic case of the Frankenstein’s monster gone wrong. With Vijay’s potential to split the anti-incumbency votes in sight, the DMK had likely introduced him into the electoral scene, with tacit evangelical approval. Could be that the DMK would have wanted to cut into the Congress and Tirumavalavan’s ( of the Dalit Viduthakal Chiruththaikal Party ) vote base among the fisherfolk and 18-25 age group newbie voters and hence Joseph Vijay was propped up. But the Karur catastrophe has proved too hot to handle and the DMK sees itself in troubled waters as the 41 deaths mocks at the government’s handling of the law and order situation.
Leaving aside the politics, what bothers me is the movie based stupor induced subjugation of the 18-25 demographic boys and girls who are so much in awe of the actor that they go to any level to deify him and are even willing to sacrifice their future just for getting a glimpse of the actor. This sad state of affairs of the state of Tamil Nadu that has so far been advertised as a ‘progressive’ state and a ‘rationalist’ one at that is telling.
The DMK run state govt had conducted a campaign ‘Kalvi-il Sirantha Tamil Nadu’ ( Educationally Developed Tamil Nadu) just before the Karur stampede and catastrophe. What kind of ‘Kalvi’ ( education ) did the state provide in the last 50 years was seen in the subsequent week.
Even after 50 years of ‘Dravidian Model’ rule, the youngsters of Tamil Nadu offer milk abishekam to the card board hoardings of their favourite movie stars, run behind the caravans of movie idols risking their lives, indulge in all kinds of arson like climbing over buildings, trees and lamp posts just to view their movie stars in real time. If this is what ‘Dravidian Model’ has achieved in the last 50 years, let the rulers in the state at least not tom tom this as an achievement.
The only comic element in this sordid Karur affair is a letter signed by ’eminent & progressive’ ( read: Leftist and DMK biased) Tamil writers, artists and poets supporting the ruling DMK party and castigating Joseph Vijay. Like the actor’s antics on screen, this letter can only be considered to be consigned to the dustbins of history, if the dustbin would allow itself to be demeaned by the letter.
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Amaruvi Devanathan
05-10-2025
Earlier articles on actor Joseph Vijay :
Amaruvi's Aphorisms 
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