Chennai: In Tamil Nadu, the Christian minority vote has traditionally been a dependable support base for the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), despite the party offering limited representation to Christian voices. However, C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) is emerging as a notable political force in the state, with its actor-turned-politician leader reaching out to the community through his party workers.
Political analysts in the state, though, suggest that it may not be easy for Vijay to secure the minority vote unless he intensifies his efforts on the ground in the lead-up to the 2026 assembly election.
To that end, sources within TVK reveal, the party’s General Secretary, N. Anand, actively engaged with bishops from various churches in Chennai during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“While in some cases, he (Anand) approached the bishop, in some cases, the bishops and some Christian school correspondents approached Thalapathy (Vijay) to participate in their Christmas celebration. Since our leader was not able to participate in those events, our general secretary participated,” a source close to N. Anand told ThePrint.
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TVK spokesperson D. Jagadeeswaran also claimed that Vijay was being looked upon as a representative by the minority community.
“Although he does not display his identity and wants to remain caste and religion neutral, a considerable number of people from the Christianity community back him for his birth identity. Among the other community and caste people, TVK has a chunk of Christian community supporters,” Jagadeeswaran said.
Another source close to Vijay shared that before his movie releases in the state, the actor never misses visiting the Velankanni Matha Church in Nagapattinam, while Jagadeeswaran added that the actor also visits Hindu temples.
“In fact, he has even built a Saibaba Temple for his mother. He is receptive to all religions,” he said.
ThePrint spoke to several bishops in the state. While some expressed willingness to extend support if Vijay personally sought it, others revealed they had already extended it.
“Whether he approaches or not, for now, he is the only leader from the community who heads a mainstream political party. The DMK, which has been receiving the support of our community for a long time, has not given enough representation to us apart from a few posts in the welfare boards. But we believe Vijay would serve the interests of the community and give enough representation to the community,” A bishop in one of the churches in Chennai’s Anna Nagar said to ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
According to the Trivedi Centre for Political Data, only 2 percent of Tamil Nadu’s 234 MLAs belong to the Christian community, including representatives from both the DMK and AIADMK.
In the 2021 assembly election, the DMK-led alliance, including Congress, allocated seats to 10 Christian candidates, while the AIADMK offered seats to 8 Christian candidates. In the current assembly, there are only 7 MLAs from the Christian community, with five from the DMK-led alliance, including Congress, and two from the AIADMK, ThePrint has learned.
However, political commentators believe more efforts need to be made by both the TVK and Vijay himself if they want to gain the support of the community.
Speaking to ThePrint, political analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy said, “Whatever Vijay has done so far is enough to convert his existing support base into votes. But, to convert a majority of them from one community as his supporters, Vijay’s one liners and few passing references may not be enough and he has to spell what he has in store for them and shed more clarity.”
DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan, speaking to ThePrint, maintains that the party’s minority vote base remains intact. When asked about the rise of TVK, he remarked that the party has yet to fully enter mainstream politics.
Also read: Vijay’s TVK has stirred up TN politics. Dravidian parties rush to draw youth, smaller ones wary too
Vijay’s identity
In 2017, following the release of the movie Mersal, actor Vijay’s identity became a topic of public discussion. The film had criticised central government policies, including GST and demonetisation, which led to the BJP National Secretary posting Vijay’s voter ID and a letterhead bearing his full name—Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar.
Following this, he released a statement on his official letterhead, bearing the name Joseph Vijay, to thank his fans for celebrating the movie. He also signed the statement as Joseph Vijay.
“Asserting his religious minority identity even after being attacked by the Hindu-Right-wing supporters got him closer to the community,” said Rev. Fr. Z. Devasagayaraj, former secretary of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.
Fr. Devasagayaraj said that there had been suspicion, up until then, among the people in the community about his political stand.
“However, after he revealed the ideological mentors (such as B.R. Ambedkar and social reformer Periyar) of his party, it became evident that he would never align with the Hindu right wing. Hence, people started liking him more than ever,” he said, adding that support is likely to grow further once Vijay clarifies his stance on key state issues, such as the Paradur airport project.
While a section of the urban community supports the actor-turned-politician, activist and political commentator Shalin Maria Lawrence noted that his political initiatives have also garnered support from minorities in rural areas.
“TVK workers in rural areas have reached out to the minorities and they are receptive to TVK’s Vijay. Although he has not explicitly revealed his minority identity anywhere, just by being half Christian, he is already being criticised by the Hindu-Right wing,” Lawrence said, adding that support for Vijay would dent the traditional Christian vote bank of the DMK.
Nevertheless, State Minorities Commission Chairman Rev. Fr. Joe Arun SJ told ThePrint that the DMK has consistently supported the community.
“Until now, there has been no need to look for a new leader. During the DMK regime, a separate commission for State Minorities was established in 2010, and in the past year alone, nearly Rs 400 crore has been sanctioned for the welfare of minorities,” he said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Vijay plans padayatra across Tamil Nadu in early 2025 as party TVK lays groundwork for poll debut
