TVK chief and now Tamil Nadu CM Joseph Vijay carefully cultivated an image that appealed to large sections of voters in Tamil Nadu – this includes the majority Hindu population as well. He projected himself as “secular,” above divisive politics, respectful of all faiths, and different from the openly anti-Hindu rhetoric often associated with sections of the Dravidian political ecosystem. Many Hindus, especially younger voters disillusioned with both the DMK and AIADMK, bought into that image. They saw Vijay as an icon rather than an ideological activist.
Vijay ran on a platform of “inclusivity for all communities.” He positioned TVK as the antidote to both the DMK’s identity politics and the BJP’s communal mobilisation. Tamil Nadu’s Hindu voters, who constitute over 87% of the state’s population, gave him a historic mandate: 108 seats in TVK’s debut election. They were told this was a new politics. But he betrayed the majority Hindus.
The political betrayal did not announce itself. It arrived quietly, dressed in the language of secularism, civility, and governance. Joseph Vijay’s silence on May 12 as Udhayanidhi Stalin stood in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and called for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, again, in a hall Vijay now leads as Chief Minister, was exactly that kind of betrayal.
Present in the Hall, Absent in Conscience
The critical detail is not just that Udhayanidhi made the remark. It is that he made it in Vijay’s presence and Vijay did nothing. He did not intervene. He did not rebuke. He was reportedly seen smiling as Udhayanidhi quipped that “DMK is the senior batch in governance and we are ready to teach you.” The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu sat through a call for the abolition of a faith practised by the overwhelming majority of his electorate and offered the hall his smile.
Vijay could have asked the Speaker to expunge the remarks. He did not. Worse, a TVK MLA went further and echoed the same rhetoric, declaring: ‘We also have Periyar, Ambedkar and we’ve entered the field to eradicate Sanatana.’
Udhayanidhi Stalin did not merely criticise caste discrimination. He once again declared that “Sanatana Dharma, which divides people, must certainly be abolished.” This was not a stray remark. It was a deliberate reiteration of his infamous 2023 statement comparing Sanatana Dharma to diseases like dengue and malaria that needed eradication. That earlier statement triggered nationwide outrage, multiple legal challenges, and even a Madras High Court observation in 2026 describing the remark as hate speech against Hindus.
Yet when the slogan returned inside the Tamil Nadu Assembly itself, what followed was remarkable not only for who supported it, but for who chose silence.
Vijay neither condemned Udhayanidhi nor his own party MLA for making those hurtful remarks. This, despite it becoming a national issue once again.
The Limits of Vijay’s ‘Secular’ Balancing Act
This silence matters because Vijay is no longer merely a film star. He is the face of a political party that asked for the trust of millions of Tamil voters, a substantial majority of whom are Hindus. He is the Chief Minister of a state that is a majority Hindu state. A party leader can hide behind ambiguity. A Chief Minister cannot. He cannot indefinitely survive on carefully managed ambiguity while every major ideological confrontation in Tamil Nadu passes by unanswered.
The larger issue is not whether Vijay personally supports Sanatana Dharma. The issue is whether he is willing to politically defend Hindu civilisational identity when it is openly targeted in public discourse, given the fact that he himself is a believer and was on a temple run following the April 23 elections.
Tamil Nadu’s Hindus were told they were getting a new politics. What they appear to have gotten is the old politics, with better branding and a Chief Minister who smiles through the controversy and looks away.
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