For three days, the Tamil Nadu government walked a fine line after the Karur stampede that killed 41 people at actor-politician Vijay’s rally: naming his party leaders in criminal cases but steering clear of the superstar himself. On Tuesday, Vijay broke his silence with a video statement that cast aside the careful restraint, challenging Chief Minister M K Stalin directly and validating the anger within his base. “I never faced such a painful situation in my life before,” Vijay said in the 4-minute, 45-second recording, delivered in his composed, cinematic style, with long pauses. He thanked supporters for their “immense love and hope” and offered condolences to grieving families. But the core of the message was less elegiac than confrontational. “CM sir, if you are desperate to find fault with us, do it with me. Don’t touch them (my supporters). I will be here at home or at the office. Do whatever you want to do with me,” he said. In one sweep, Vijay sought to recast the tragedy not as a failure of crowd control but as a political conspiracy. “I have gone to about five districts for campaigns, and why does this happen only in Karur? People know the truth. People are watching everything. When people of Karur themselves started revealing the truth, I felt like God himself had come out to speak the truth,” he said. pic.twitter.com/FipkqoLlmB — TVK Vijay (@TVKVijayHQ) September 30, 2025 The speech was part grief, part accusation, and part challenge. Vijay said the rally was conducted at the government-allotted venue and insisted, “We did not do anything wrong.” He accused the police of targeting his party unfairly. “FIRs have been filed against our leaders and cadres, and even social media friends are being booked,” he said, before inviting Stalin to “do whatever you want” with him instead. The statement followed a weekend in which the ruling DMK had carefully avoided escalating the situation. While police registered cases against TVK’s Karur district secretary V P Mathiyazhagan, state general secretary ‘Bussy’ Anand, and deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar under multiple criminal sections, Stalin emphasised that Vijay himself was not being named, saying the one-person commission headed by retired judge Aruna Jagadeesan would determine accountability. For DMK, that caution is now being tested. By effectively challenging the chief minister in public, Vijay not only shifted the spotlight back to himself but also sharpened the perception that the DMK is hesitant to confront him. Hours later, at a press conference in Chennai, the Stalin government fielded Additional Chief Secretary P Amudha, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Davidson Devasirvatham, and Health Secretary P Senthilkumar to put up a detailed defence of the administration’s handling of the tragedy. They said the venue was equipped to handle 15,000 people, but many more showed up with Vijay’s convoy, displayed videos of the entourage entering Karur, and rebutted allegations of power being cut deliberately. On social media, Vijay's camp had already been churning with speculation that the DMK had a hand in orchestrating the chaos. Vijay’s latest video statement gave those rumours fresh oxygen. The provocation was compounded by Adhav Arjuna, TVK’s poll propaganda in charge, who was with Vijay in the campaign vehicle during the Karur stampede. In a post on X, he referred to “Gen Z rebellion” in a way that suggested parallels to Nepal. The post drew sharp rebuke from the DMK, which demanded his expulsion. Former union minister and the DMK deputy general secretary A Raja accused him of making remarks “against India’s sovereignty and integrity,” and pointedly asked why Vijay had not removed him. Arjuna deleted the post after backlash but declined to comment further, saying he was grieving the loss of 41 lives in Karur. Top sources in the government had told The Indian Express over the weekend that Stalin was wary of immediate action against Vijay, apprehensive that an arrest or even a direct summons would generate a sympathy wave. That calculation still holds, insiders say, but Tuesday’s statement has complicated matters. By calling on Stalin to target him personally, Vijay cast himself in the familiar role of a film protagonist. To his fans, it was an act of defiance. If it has injected a new volatility into the case, it has also narrowed the space for cautious calculation, leaving DMK to balance the risk of restraint against the risk of confrontation.
