Chief Minister's Address at the Cabinet Swearing-in Ceremony

Speech delivered by Thiru. C. Joseph Vijay after taking oath as Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, at the Cabinet swearing-in ceremony held today (10.5.2026) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai. My greetings to all of you who live in my heart! I don't know what to say, how to begin. As the child of an ordinary Assistant Director who struggled somehow to find success in cinema, I know very well what poverty means in life. I know very well what hunger means. I did not come from some great royal lineage. I am just like you — like one among you, like someone in your family, like your child, like your son, like your elder brother, like your younger brother. That is how I feel. It is because you too thought of me that way that you gave me such a huge place in cinema. Now, setting all of that aside, your Vijay has come into politics to repay that debt of gratitude to you, and you welcomed him saying, "Come, Vijay, we are all here, we will look after you. Vijay thambi (younger brother), come, we are here. Anna (elder brother), come, we are all here. Nanba (friend), come, we are all here" — with so much love, so much ownership, that you accepted me. At this moment I must say this: in this journey, in this process, whatever hardships I faced, whatever humiliations came my way on one side, those of you who raised your voice for me faced the very same hardships, the very same humiliations. Without treating any of that as a big deal, without holding it against anyone, you considered my pain, my anguish, as your own, and stood by me — and today you have made real the "C. Joseph Vijay" that I am. Truly, I do not know what to say. My kinsfolk, my own people — I am no angel. I too am just an ordinary man living an ordinary life. As I have said before, I will not deceive you with false promises of "I will do this, I will do that." I will only do what is possible. A question may immediately arise in your minds — won't they do what is not possible, can't it be done? When these many crores of people are standing with me, I have the confidence that whatever comes, we can face it together, whatever comes, we can handle it. There is one more thing I must tell you here. I must tell you about the condition in which our Tamil Nadu Government stands today. Having borrowed debts of nearly 10 lakh crore rupees and left... having wiped the treasury clean and left... having loaded an unbearable burden and left... it is in such a condition that we have taken this responsibility into our hands. You may immediately think that I am exaggerating with big numbers. That is not the case at all. Only by going inside and examining will we know — what condition things are in, what exists, what does not, what state each thing is in. Having examined all of that, I intend to release it to you as a white paper. As a transparent government — that is, having told you plainly that our Tamil Nadu Government is in this condition today, I just want to take it forward from there. That is what I feel I must do first. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, if I need to meet someone in person about something, I will not go about it by shutting my mouth and quietly meeting them, or by secretly meeting them without your knowledge. Whatever it may be, I will do it openly, without any concealment. You have placed such a huge responsibility in my hands. At the same time, I request you to also give me a little time. I will try to fulfil, step by step, everything I have said. I will fulfil it. At the same time, if you give me a little time, it will be of great help and cooperation to me. This is your government. I will keep women's safety very strict. Whatever steps need to be taken, whatever efforts need to be made to control drug culture, I will take them starting from today itself. It is our government's responsibility to protect our children from it. Likewise, I will ensure law and order and safety for everyone. Whether they are people who humiliated me or people who troubled me, they too are my people. Whether friends or foes, all eight crore people are my people. In the same way, it seems to me that my very first and complete attention must be on basic matters like education, ration, healthcare, drinking water, road facilities and bus facilities. As I said before, I will not touch even a single paisa of the people's money. I have no need for it either. You know that well. This Vijay will not do wrong, and will not allow wrong to be done either — no matter who it is, even those standing alongside me in my government, he will not let it go. If anyone had the thought of "let's try a little game," erase that thought this very instant, right now. There is only one centre — the centre that exists under my leadership. There won't be one power centre on this side and another power centre elsewhere. That simply will not exist. I am saying this right now. Women, youth, farmers, government employees, teachers, working people, fishermen — everyone will do well, will do well, will do well under our TVK government. "All lives are born equal" — this is our fundamental, unbiased principle. My minority brothers and sisters, our TVK government will stand with you. You need have no doubt about that whatsoever. This face of Vijay is a face for Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike. You can trust this Vijay 100% on that. To all the people of Tamil Nadu as a whole, who created such an atmosphere, I express my gratitude to every one of you at this moment. I must also specially thank one more group of people — it is because of this "Vijay Mama's" little friends, the "fan-bees," that this has happened. How am I to repay you? Keeping your future in mind, this Vijay Mama will do all good things for you. Be confident. Likewise, I must specially thank one more person. How can I ever forget you? You are my very life-breath. Comrades of the Tamilaga Vetrik Kazhagam, truly speaking, if not for you, there would be nothing at all. To my party comrades, party functionaries, polling agents, my dear virtual warriors — countless thanks to all of you. Let us all come together and deliver a fresh governance, a new governance. This is a new beginning, a new era of a real secular social justice starts now. I welcome, with "varuga, varuga" (welcome, welcome), the respected leader of the Indian National Congress, Thiru. Mallikarjun Kharge, who has stood by and extended support to our government which holds only the welfare of the people as its goal; the respected Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, "my brother" Thiru. Rahul Gandhi; the respected General Secretary of the Congress party, Thiru. K.C. Venugopal; the respected Tamil Nadu Congress President, Thiru. Selvaperunthagai; my friend Thiru. Praveen Chakravarthy; the respected National General Secretary of the CPI(M), Comrade Thiru. M.A. Baby; the respected State Secretary, Comrade Thiru. P. Shanmugam; the respected Politburo member, Comrade Thiru. K. Balakrishnan; the respected Member of Parliament, Comrade Thiru. Su. Venkatesan; the respected leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, which has extended support to our government, "Annan" Thiru. Thirumavalavan, M.P.; the respected Member of Parliament Thiru. Ravikumar; the respected Assembly floor leader Thiru. Vanniarasu; the respected National General Secretary of the CPI, Comrade Thiru. D. Raja; the respected State Secretary, Comrade Thiru. M. Veerapandian; the respected former Tamil Nadu State Secretary, Comrade Thiru. Ira. Mutharasan; the respected President of the Indian Union Muslim League, Dr. Thiru. Kader Mohideen; and the respected Member of Parliament Thiru. Vaas Kani. Especially at this time, I express my gratitude to all of you for raising your voice for me, for supporting me and standing with me. Be confident. Good things will happen. Success is certain. We will meet again, and again. Thank you, greetings. *************** Issued By: Director, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Chennai-9