Thalapathy Vijay Congress-Led INDIA Alliance Protest in Chennai

Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), led by Chief Minister Thalapathy Vijay, has joined a Congress-led protest in Chennai demanding the removal of India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

This marks the first time Vijay’s party has participated in a protest against the CEC since joining the opposition INDIA alliance on October 3.

The protest, held under the banner of “Save Democracy”, was organised over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The programme was jointly organised by Congress MP B Manickam Tagore and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC).

Protests over alleged voter-list irregularities are also taking place in New Delhi. Leaders from seven INDIA alliance constituent parties participated in the Chennai demonstration.

Rahul Gandhi meets Vijay

On October 10, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK chief C Joseph Vijay in Chennai. Just days after the meeting, Vijay’s party joined the protest called by the Congress.

According to Congress leadership cited by the news outlet South First, Rahul had invited Vijay and his party to participate in future discussions, campaigns and protests against India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Rahul visited Vijay at his residence in Neelankarai, a suburb of Chennai. The two leaders discussed several political issues during the meeting.

Rahul also congratulated Vijay on TVK’s victories in the Dharapuram and Madurantakam by-elections.

The meeting was the first between the two leaders since the formation of the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance in Tamil Nadu.

Concerns over SIR

Speakers at the protest alleged that millions of voters had been systematically removed from electoral rolls through the SIR process. They claimed that a significant proportion of those affected belonged to Muslim communities, ethnic minorities and marginalised groups.

They further claimed that more than 9.7 million names had been deleted from Tamil Nadu’s electoral rolls alone.

The speakers alleged that the process initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government undermined the spirit of the Constitution. Describing it as “democratic murder”, they expressed concern that the electoral process was being manipulated to benefit the ruling BJP.