Do we like them?Do we like Vijay?
Our score: 5 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up and the platform is welfare-first, but the Karur tragedy and his response keep him in the middle.
Vijay is one of Tamil cinema's biggest names, known to fans as Thalapathy. He launched his party, TVK, in 2024 and, in 2026, it won 108 of 234 seats on debut. That was short of a majority, so Congress, the CPI, CPI(M) and VCK backed him, and he was sworn in on 10 May as the third film star to be Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, after MGR and Jayalalithaa.
The defining stain is Karur. On 27 September 2025, 41 people died in a stampede at his rally. Justice N Senthilkumar of the Madras High Court said the leader “vanished and disappeared from the place of occurrence”, said “there is no remorse on their part”, and ordered a special investigation team. The case then moved to the CBI, which summoned Vijay for questioning in January 2026; no charges against him were reported in what we read.
Vijay's side has pushed back, and so have his critics. As Chief Minister he said the tragedy could have been averted if police had warned him, and promised a memorial for the victims. A DMK spokesperson called those remarks false and alleged his late arrival contributed to the deaths, while a DMK MP said it was better not to comment on a matter still under investigation. The probe is ongoing, so it would be unfair to call it settled either way.
On the harm check, the record is clean in what we could read. At his first big rally in 2024 he named the BJP as TVK's ideological opponent and the DMK as its political rival. His government is backed by Congress and the left parties. We found no statement from him on trans or LGBTQ+ rights, so that's a gap rather than a tick, and we didn't find his on-screen projects or collaborators raising any flags.
His first months in office show a welfare-first government that doesn't always match the slogans. His first order gave 200 free electricity units, but only to households using up to 500 units per two months. Promises like ₹2,500 a month for women weren't in the first orders. He did order 65 anti-narcotics task force units and announced a women's safety force. At his first public address he denied horse-trading and said “I am not comparing myself with MGR.”
There's also an older stoush. In 2021 a Madras High Court judge fined him ₹1 lakh over his challenge to the entry tax on an imported Rolls-Royce. A division bench stayed that order and the fine, and told him to pay the tax in the meantime. It's a small thing set against Karur, but it's the same pattern of a famous man fighting the rules.