TVK’s Peeve Over Campaign Restrictions Persists

Chennai: Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) President Vijay canceled his planned campaign in T Nagar Assembly constituency on Monday, angry that the police had reduced the duration of the event from four hours to one hour, while a party member objected to the release of Tamil movie ‘Thanga Natchathiram – TN 2026’ on April 10.

While Aadhav Arjuna, general secretary of the party’s election campaign management, accused the Chennai City Police and Commissioner Arun of reducing Vijay’s campaign time to one hour at the last minute after allowing four hours prior from the Tempo Traveler van (TN 23 D 7999), a TVK member said that the film ‘Thanga Natchatiram – TN 2026’ defamed Vijay and his political entry.

TVK member M Nagamuthu, in his letter to the Chief Electoral Officer and Central Board of Film Certification, sought to stop the release of the film during the election season and alleged that DMK loyalists were behind the production of the film, which stars Vijay lookalike actor Natti Nataraj in the lead role.

The film features dialogues like ‘can an actor aspire to rule the State’, which defames Vijay through a defamatory portrayal of the lead character and even acts as a direct attack on the TVK chief, he said, adding that the release of the film could create law and order problems in the state as it could anger Vijay fans.

The teaser of the film, directed by Umapathy Ramiah, had already been released and depicted both Vijay’s professional and personal life in a bad light.

Regarding the shortening of TVK’s campaign period, Arjuna said party representatives have already met the CEO and appraised the Election Commission on how TVK has been deprived of its right to campaign and will continue to fight to get its rights back.

Earlier, on the day of filing nominations, Vijay started his campaign from Perambur, one of the two constituencies where he contested the Assembly elections, and proceeded on city roads in neighboring constituencies when he suddenly abandoned his campaign vehicle and got into his car to reach his home.

The party alleged that the police did not make arrangements for free and uninterrupted passage of his vehicle on city roads and allowed heavy traffic to flow along the route, making it difficult for Vijay to conduct the campaign, hence calling for an immediate halt.

Likewise, the shortening of campaign hours on Monday angered Vijay, who refused to undertake the campaign himself; He also accused the police of denying him permission to connect the onboard audio system in his campaign vehicle to external amplifiers and speakers.

It was learned that the party decided to try different communication methods, such as increasing its effectiveness on social media and giving special interviews to television channels, within the scope of its campaign before the April 23 elections.