CHENNAI: Indian film star C. Joseph Vijay was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu state on Sunday after his new party brokered a coalition in the southern industrial hub. The swearing-in ceremony followed days of high drama in the state capital Chennai, where Vijay&#39;s fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party initially struggled to secure support from smaller parties after state elections. Vijay&#39;s TVK, founded only two years ago, emerged as the single largest party after the vote with 108 seats in Tamil Nadu&#39;s 234-member legislative assembly, short of a simple majority. However, it won support from other parties, including the opposition Congress, bringing its seat count to 120 and making it possible for Vijay to claim the top job. Thousands of supporters gathered at Chennai&#39;s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, chanting &quot;Mudhalvar&quot; (Tamil for &quot;chief minister&quot;) to watch Vijay take his oath of office. &quot;I am not from a royal political background, just a common man,&quot; the 51-year-old told the crowd. &quot;My primary focus will be on basic issues such as education, ration supplies, healthcare, drinking water, roads and bus facilities,&quot; he said. Vijay&#39;s first set of policies included measures to ease electricity prices and improve women&#39;s safety. Voice for the common manVijay, born to a Christian father and a Hindu mother, began his career as a child actor in 1984 in a film directed by his father, a filmmaker. Known for his charismatic screen presence and mass appeal, his fans dubbed him &quot;Thalapathy&quot;, or &quot;leader&quot; in Tamil. His blockbuster hits blended action, social messaging and populist themes, burnishing his reputation as a voice for the common man. He cultivated his public image over the years by taking on roles that touched on subjects ranging from farmers&#39; issues to electoral manipulation. He launched the TVK in 2024 with a promise to end corruption and strengthen social justice. Tamil Nadu is one of India&#39;s most significant economic engines, with its industrial sector producing everything from automobiles to electronics.&nbsp; The state is also India&#39;s smartphone manufacturing hub, including for Apple iPhones. People&#39;s demand for new political leaderThe TVK&#39;s campaign sought to end the dominance of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, traditional parties that had ruled the state since the late 1960s. Analysts said Vijay&#39;s large fan base, combined with young people&#39;s demand for a new political leader, was behind his stunning election performance. Vijay, a political novice, now faces the challenge of turning that popularity into policy. His campaign rallies drew thousands of fans, but were also marred by allegations of crowd mismanagement.&nbsp; A stampede at a rally in September killed at least 40 people.&nbsp;However, it did little to dent his popularity. &quot;When you have a cult, you don&#39;t question at all,&quot; political commentator Sumanth Raman told AFP after the election results were published.

India

'I am not from a royal political background, just a common man,' the 51-year-old Vijay told his supporters after the swearing-in ceremony.

Indian film star sworn in as head of industrial hub Tamil Nadu

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Voting began on Thursday in two of India&rsquo;s most politically important opposition-held states, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. But Bengal&rsquo;s first phase was overshadowed by claims that voter-roll deletions disproportionately hit Muslims and other marginalized groups, according to AP. In West Bengal, polling opened for 152 of the state&rsquo;s 294 assembly seats, while Tamil Nadu voted in a single phase for all 234 seats. Results in both states are due on May 4. BJP targets opposition strongholdsPrime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s BJP is trying to break into both opposition strongholds. In West Bengal, it is seeking to unseat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee&rsquo;s Trinamool Congress, which won 213 seats in the 2021 election. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP remains a junior ally of the strongest regional party, AIADMK and has historically struggled to make significant gains. Voter roll purge under scrutinyIn Bengal, however, the most serious issue hanging over the vote is not just campaign rhetoric, but who has been allowed to vote at all. About 9 million names were removed from West Bengal&rsquo;s electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision, roughly 12% of the electorate. The Election Commission has said the exercise was meant to remove duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible voters, according to AP and other reports. Critics, however, say it has instead become a blunt instrument of disenfranchisement. Murshidabad fallout deepens alarmThe Wire reported from Murshidabad that the fallout extends far beyond the ballot box. Migrant laborers whose names were deleted are now trapped in what the report described as a no-man&rsquo;s land. Some workers said employers were demanding proof that they had voted in order to show they were not &ldquo;Bangladeshi.&rdquo; In border districts and Muslim-majority belts, the stigma attached to deletion has turned an administrative exercise into a threat to livelihood, dignity and belonging. The pattern has raised wider alarm because the exclusions appear to fall disproportionately on vulnerable communities. A data analysis by The Wire said Muslim-heavy constituencies, especially in the border belt, were disproportionately pushed into harsher scrutiny channels. AP also reported that opposition leaders accused the BJP of using the purge to suppress minority and dissenting votes. Security was tightened across Bengal, including at &ldquo;supersensitive&rdquo; polling stations and along the Bangladesh border. But the central question surrounding this election is not only whether voting will be peaceful. It is whether an election can be called fully democratic when millions arrived on polling day, already erased from the rolls.

Voting began in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, but Bengal’s first phase was overshadowed by claims that voter-roll deletions disproportionately affected Muslims and other marginalized groups, raising disenfranchisement concerns.

Elections in India begin amid voter purge controversy

TIRUPPUR: When Donald Trump was elected, Indian garment exporter R.K. Sivasubramaniam thought the new US president would boost business and invested heavily in anticipation of a boom. But less than a year later, everything is &quot;upside down&quot;, he admits with a pained smile. Trump&#39;s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, imposed in August, have upset the country&#39;s $11 billion textile export industry and shaken confidence in the US market. Sivasubramaniam&#39;s Raft Garments factory in southern India, typically frenetic with humming sewing machines, is quieter, and work hours have been cut, hitting employees&#39; pay packets. If his US buyers switch to other suppliers, half of his business could disappear. &lsquo;We cannot give that much&rsquo;Meanwhile, half a million garments sit in towering stacks, ready for shipment but stalled over who will pay the new duties. Buyers are asking for a 16% to 20% discount. &quot;We cannot give that much,&quot; said Sivasubramaniam, whose desk carries crossed US and Indian flags. &quot;It&#39;s a very huge loss for us.&quot; If Raft does not shoulder part of the duties, it would not be paid for garments already produced, leaving it unable to cover its costs. &quot;If it continues for another month ... we cannot give work to our employees,&quot; he warned. Financing the war in Ukraine&nbsp;Trump&#39;s anger at India&#39;s purchases of Russian oil -- which Washington says help finance Moscow&#39;s war in Ukraine -- has left New Delhi facing some of the world&#39;s steepest tariffs. A trade deal that could ease that hinges partly on progress in peace talks. But the fallout is being felt in Tiruppur, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Dubbed India&#39;s &quot;knitwear capital&quot; and &quot;Dollar City&quot; for its significant export earnings, the small industrial town generated $5 billion in garments last fiscal year, two-fifths of which went to the US. A grim picture&nbsp;Its lanes are dotted with thousands of units, including dyeing, embroidery, and sewing workshops. Manufacturers paint a grim picture.&nbsp;&quot;US orders have largely stopped, around 80% of the US business has reduced,&quot; said Ramesh Jebaraj of Trinity Tex. In the same season last year, he produced 100,000 garments. Now he has barely a fifth of that, forcing him to seek buyers in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. &quot;This is the situation across Tiruppur,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;Some of the bigger factories are on the verge of closing some of their units.&quot; &lsquo;Worst possible situation&rsquo;&nbsp;Alexander John of N.C. John Garments, which supplies Walt Disney, called the tariff standoff &quot;the worst possible situation any business can be in.&quot; With his US orders &quot;completely at a standstill,&quot; he has cut shifts and laid off workers. To stay afloat, he is looking to Europe and Britain, but said, &quot;None of these markets can replace the US.&quot; Three million jobs at risk&nbsp;Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has warned that up to three million jobs could be at risk across the state&#39;s textile belt, a grim prospect for a country struggling to provide well-paid work for its youth. Local industry associations say they have so far avoided widespread layoffs by agreeing to steep discounts on US shipments. &quot;In the short term, we&#39;re giving discounts to the customer ranging from 20% to 25%,&quot; said N. Thirukkumaran, general secretary of the Tiruppur Exporters Association. However, he admits that it is not a long-term solution and has pleaded for government support. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;We are helpless&#39;&nbsp;</h2>Exporters describe the move as a calculated gamble, by selling at a loss to maintain US buyer relationships while awaiting a trade deal. At RRK Cotton&#39;s facility in Palladam, 17 kilometers (10 miles) from Tiruppur, dimly-lit production halls are quieter than usual. Owner R. Rajkumar, a former tailor who built his business over three decades, has closed two factories and furloughed some of his staff. &quot;This is a situation nobody could have anticipated,&quot; he said, adding that he was running three factories fulfilling European orders and shipping some US orders after giving a discount. He fears the next ordering cycle could be disrupted if US buyers shift to rivals such as Vietnam or Bangladesh. All that depends on a trade deal. &lsquo;America has abandoned us&rsquo;Meanwhile, anger and confusion run deep among workers and business owners. &quot;My tailor ... He doesn&#39;t know what is a trade war, or why India is buying oil from Russia, and why it is affecting our lives, our bread,&quot; said Kumar Duraiswamy, CEO of Eastern Global Clothing. &quot;The problem is we are helpless,&quot; he added.&nbsp;N. Karthick Raja, 38, employed at a small embroidery unit now running reduced shifts, fears for his livelihood. &quot;If this job goes away, I don&#39;t know what I will do next,&quot; he said. &quot;America has abandoned us, more or less.&quot;

Business

The tariffs imposed under Trump have devastated exporters in Tiruppur. Orders have dropped sharply, factories face closures, and millions of textile jobs in Tamil Nadu are now at risk.

Articles tagged with "Tamil Nadu"

Indian film star sworn in as head of industrial hub Tamil Nadu

Elections in India begin amid voter purge controversy

Indian garment exporters reel under US tariffs