Barricades & broken promises: Inside Vijay’s TVK Iftaar chaos

Mamallapuram: A buzzing Iftaar organised by TVK and busloads of cadres flipped the script for the sleepy coastal town of Poonjeri near Mahabalipuram on March 18 evening.

It it obvious that Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), still reeling from the near-mythical chaos of its inaugural Iftaar held at the YMCA grounds in Royapettah, bang in the middle of Chennai, hoped that this nondescript town in the middle of nowhere, would absorb the frenzy of the fans-turned-cadres.

The inaugural event had turned into a logistical nightmare for the police.

Party cadres noted that the second iteration was significantly more organised than the Chennai debut, a shift partially attributed to the choice of venue and the ample parking space.

Not willing to take a chance, Aadhav Arjuna, general secretary of TVK’s election campaign management, had also spent a considerable time schooling those seated for Iftaar on how they should behave:”Don’t get up from your seats; pay respect to the occasion; if you have a phone on you -- they were expected to leave the phones outside -- don’t take it out to make selfies or reels.”

All that worked to an extent. As long as Vijay prayed, the crowd prayed too. But as the actor was about to leave, a frenzy gripped the crowd and people started pushing each other to get close to him.

Things were not that different in the separate enclosure that seated women and children. The women could barely contain themselves and all wanted to take a spot near the opening of the enclosure. Saira, a fan-turned-cadre from Villupuram, who attended both the events, recalled that during the previous year’s gathering, the enthusiasm to see “Thalapathy” was so intense that women tore down the barricades separating them from the men’s section.