TVK plans grassroots push before Vijay’s State-wide tour: Aadhav Arjuna

Aadhav Arjuna.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has planned to strengthen its organisational structure by holding zonal conferences for booth-level agents, aiming to train them in election-related work and establish a fully functional grassroots network by the end of June, ahead of party president Vijay’s State-wide tour.

Speaking to The Hindu, TVK’s election campaign management general secretary Aadhav Arjuna said: “The general perception is that only the DMK and AIADMK have solid booth-level party structures. However, the TVK has already formed eight-member committees — including two women in each committee — across all 69,000 booths. A booth secretary has been selected from among them in each booth. We have planned to hold zonal-level conferences for them in all five zones: West, Central, South, North, and Chennai. The first such conference will take place in Coimbatore on April 26 and 27.”

He said these conferences would serve as training sessions for booth-level agents, focusing on digital engagement through social media, communication strategies, use of the party’s mobile application, identifying and escalating local issues, voter list verification, distribution of booth slips, duties on polling and counting days, and coordination with election officials.

“Since the launch of the party, this is the first time we are organising such micro-level training clinics. All booth secretaries are now connected through a centralised dashboard to improve coordination. Each secretary has been tasked with door-to-door outreach to communicate the TVK’s ideologies to at least 200 families per booth. We aim to complete all zonal conferences by June, so that the party’s grassroots framework will be firmly in place to support our leader’s [Vijay] tour programme,” Mr. Arjuna added.

Waqf Amendment Act

Mr. Arjuna also criticised the DMK government for not taking strong legal action against the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025. “After the Act was passed in Parliament, our leader [Vijay] suggested two courses of action — either organising protests or approaching the judiciary, challenging the Act. We discussed and chose the legal route and consulted senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi. A case was filed on April 15 and listed as item no. 77, the next day. Mr. Singhvi argued that the Act was unconstitutional and should not be taken by High Courts to avoid flooding of similar cases across the country. He represented our party and another petitioner,” Mr. Arjuna said.

Drawing a comparison, Mr. Arjuna pointed out, “In the Governor issue, the DMK government engaged senior counsels like Mr. Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi. Why didn’t they [the DMK government] take a similar approach to challenge the Waqf Amendment Act if they are serious about protecting minority rights? The DMK government passed a resolution in the Assembly against the Act after the law had already been passed in both Houses of Parliament. That was just vote bank politics.”

He also referenced the approach taken by Kerala’s Left-front government in challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). “The Kerala government went to the Supreme Court. Why hasn’t the Tamil Nadu government done the same with the Waqf Amendment Act?” he questioned.