Less than six months after 41 people died and nearly 100 were injured in the Karur stampede, the single deadliest incident at any political rally in Tamil Nadu’s history, TVK chief Vijay’s Sengipatti conference in Thanjavur on 4 March 2026 once again unfolded in scenes of dangerous disorder. Nothing has been learned. Nothing has changed. And that, by itself, is a damning indictment of a man who wants to govern over 80 million people.
Karur: 41 Dead, One Leader Who Fled
The facts of 27 September 2025 must not be allowed to fade. The TVK rally at Velusamypuram near Karur was permitted for 10,000 people. Between 27,000 and 35,000 had gathered since dawn. Vijay arrived six hours late, leaving women, children, and the elderly to bake in the sun with no water, no shade, and no exit route. When the crowd surged toward his convoy, 41 people including a two-year-old child, at least nine other children, and 18 women were crushed to death. Around 100 others were hospitalised.
What did Vijay do? He fled.
The Madras High Court was unsparing in its verdict: “This Court strongly condemns the conduct of Mr. Vijay, the organisers of the event and the members of the political party for fleeing from the scene of occurrence immediately after mishaps.” The court noted that TVK’s leadership “absconded from the venue, abandoning their own cadres, followers, and fans,” and that the party had not released any expression of responsibility – a posture the court said reflected a “disregard for human life and public accountability”. A Special Investigation Team was subsequently ordered by the court.
A filmy-style social media video uploaded three days later, not an in-person accountability moment, not a visit to the injured – this was Vijay’s response. The Supreme Court is now monitoring a CBI-linked probe panel into the Karur deaths.
Deaths At TVK Rallies – “Tragedies Waiting to Happen”
Karur was not TVK’s first brush with death. In August 2025, a 19-year-old BA Visual Communication student from Virudhunagar died of electrocution while climbing a structure to hoist a TVK party flag ahead of a public meeting in Madurai. He was not the last.
As recently as 24 February 2026, at the time of the Vellore event, a fan was filmed hanging from a crane in Vellore during Vijay’s visit to meet party workers in the Pallikondan and Arasarampatti areas, where only 4,900 people had been permitted. Despite Vijay having issued repeated public warnings urging fans not to perform risky stunts, the frenzy continued without consequence.
Also in February 2026, another death was reported at Vijay’s TVK Salem rally, alongside chaos. At Vijay’s earlier Tiruchirappalli campaign stop, police had imposed strict safety conditions for crowd management – most of which were violated, triggering a six-hour traffic jam.
Thanjavur, March 2026: History Repeating
Five months after Karur, same story, different venue. Vijay’s convoy travelling from Tiruchirappalli airport to Sengipatti was chased at high speed by hundreds of two-wheelers. Three students on motorcycles collided with each other; one was admitted in critical condition. In separate incidents on the same route, at least two more supporters sustained head injuries and fractures and were hospitalised. Total injured: at least five.
Supporters dangerously followed Vijay’s convoy on two-wheelers, leading to multiple accidents. Around 11:30 AM, two youths, Vignesh and Arun, riding a Honda Activa, crashed into a road median, leaving Vignesh with serious head injuries and Arun with fractures.
At the venue itself, crowds broke through barricades at the entrance and surged toward the grounds. Visuals circulated on television and social media showed people pushing and jostling each other in a crowd surge alarmingly similar to the minutes before Karur’s collapse.
The Crane Climber, the Toll Booth, the Selfie and the Theeyasakthi Problem
The Vellore crane-hanging incident of 24 February 2026 was not isolated. Reports have also documented TVK supporters mobbing Vijay’s vehicle at a toll booth near Pudukkudi, with fans dangerously climbing moving vehicles and structures as his convoy passed. The pattern: two-wheelers racing at speed without helmets, fans dismantling barricades, stunts performed in full view of party leadership has become a fixture of every TVK public event. The party’s own social media has at times circulated these images as evidence of popularity rather than condemning them as lawbreaking.
In one instance from the Thanjavur event, a fan was seen climbing onto Vijay’s moving campaign vehicle and positioning himself to take a selfie. The man clung to the SUV while the convoy continued moving through a crowded road.
Vijay, who was visible inside the vehicle, appeared to notice the supporter but responded by smiling and waving rather than signalling security personnel to intervene or stop the vehicle. The gesture was interpreted by many observers as tacit encouragement of dangerous fan behaviour.
Vijay calls everyone else a “Theeyasakthi” (evil force/power), but it is him who is gleefully enabling and seemingly enjoying such chaotic recklessness exhibited by his fans.
The Accountability Gap
After every incident, the script is the same: Vijay issues a verbal request for calm, the party blames police, media releases a social media video, and the next event is planned with identical non-existent crowd controls. The Madras High Court noted TVK showed “no remorse”. The CBI is investigating. Courts have ordered SITs. Yet on March 4, 2026, barricades were torn down again, fans raced convoys again, and young men ended up in ICU again.
A man who cannot, or rather will not, control a political rally, who flees when it turns fatal, who watches with apparent satisfaction as fans hang from cranes and race his convoy, is not a leader. He is a liability seeking office. Tamil Nadu has buried more than 50 of his supporters. It cannot afford to give him the keys to the state.
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