Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday in what was both a formal administrative meeting and a carefully watched political moment in India’s changing southern landscape – a superstar-turned-Chief Minister sitting across from a Prime Minister who has spent more than a decade trying to expand his party’s footprint in Tamil Nadu.
The meeting, held less than three weeks after Vijay assumed office, , according to government sources. But in Tamil Nadu politics, even photographs can acquire the density of political essays. By evening, Tamil social media had already begun circulating side-by-side images of Vijay’s meeting with Modi on Wednesday and their earlier interaction from 2014, long before Vijay formally entered politics.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, Vijay personally thanked the Prime Minister for facilitating the return of ancient Chola-era copper plates from the Netherlands, including the historically significant Anaimangalam copper plates.
Beyond symbolism, the Chief Minister used the meeting to press several politically sensitive issues tied closely to Tamil Nadu’s regional anxieties and identity politics.
Among the matters raised were the proposed Mekedatu dam project across the Cauvery river, the repeated arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, the controversy surrounding the singing of Tamil Thai Vazhthu at official functions, and the establishment of an air navigation centre and defence-linked aviation infrastructure in Tamil Nadu.
In his petition to the Prime Minister, Vijay objected to Karnataka’s proposed bhoomi pooja for the Mekedatu reservoir project, arguing that it violated both the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award and Supreme Court rulings.
He urged the Union government not to permit the project without the consent of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, warning that the announcement had triggered “serious concern” among farmers in the state.
Vijay also informed Modi that 58 Tamil Nadu fishermen were currently lodged in Sri Lankan prisons and hundreds of fishing boats remained seized. He urged the Centre to intensify diplomatic efforts to secure their release and protect coastal livelihoods.
The Chief Minister also raised the recent dispute over the singing of Tamil Thai Vazhthu at central government-linked functions in Tamil Nadu and sought clarity that the state anthem could continue to be sung before Vande Mataram at official events – an issue that quickly escalated into another chapter in Tamil Nadu’s long-running politics of language, identity and federal assertion.
In the recent elections, his party emerged as the single largest force in the Assembly elections with 108 seats and later secured the confidence vote with support from Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML legislators. The trust vote itself became dramatic after 25 AIADMK MLAs rebelled and backed the new government.
Vijay arrived in earlier in the day on his first official visit as Chief Minister and was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour at Tamil Nadu House. He is also scheduled to meet Union Home Minister , Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and senior Congress leaders , Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.
If the Modi meeting projected institutional engagement, the rest of Vijay’s Delhi schedule reflected the peculiar arithmetic of his government – a coalition stitched together after the election by parties that had contested against him but later rallied behind him to prevent political instability.
