Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday issued a clarification on his “body language” while replying to the debate on the demand for grants for the Police and Fire and Rescue Services departments in the Assembly. In a post on X, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam party chief said his gesture of touching his jaw during the speech was “not in any way intentional.”
This came a day after ruckus in the Tamil Nadu Assembly following Vijay's remarks against the DMK regime over corruption in the state-run liquor retailer TASMAC, detailing findings from the central probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED). The chief minister made remarks referring to the MISA Act and the Sarkaria Commission, following which DMK staged a walkout from the Assembly.
‘Don’ interpret it personally': What did Vijay say
Vijay, his post, said, “I wish to clarify that, during my response speech on the police department's grant request in the Legislative Assembly on 7.9.2026, my body language, which inadvertently came across in between, was not in any way intentional.”
{{/usCountry}}Vijay, his post, said, “I wish to clarify that, during my response speech on the police department's grant request in the Legislative Assembly on 7.9.2026, my body language, which inadvertently came across in between, was not in any way intentional.”
{{/usCountry}}“Therefore, I kindly request that it not be interpreted as an act intended to hurt anyone's feelings on a personal level,” he added. Vijay's posture of holding his jaw – with one hand – seemingly to lift it in one way had been noticed and highlighted by several social media users.
Some claimed that the jaw gesture had been made to mock former Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president MK Stalin, who had reportedly suffered a jaw fracture during his incarceration during the Emergency in 1975, PTI news agency reported.
Ruckus in Tamil Nadu Assembly, DMK stages walkout
Vijay on Monday displayed ED documents relating to TASMAC during the DMK government, detailing its findings. Vijay said former DMK minister V Senthil Balaji and his brother Ashok Kumar were also involved in the corruption under the retail of liquors.
Referring to the report of the Sarkaria Commission, which had cited 2.5 per cent corruption in tenders during the term led by the then DMK President M Karunanidhi, Vijay said, “Financial irregularities were done in an organised manner and claimed it is a ‘scientific corruption’ that has taken place in the DMK regime."
DMK MLAs reportedly raised slogans and surrounded Speaker JCD Prabhakar's podium in the Assembly on Monday, demanding that Vijay's remarks based on the ED documents be expunged. The Speaker rejected the demand, following which the opposition MLAs continued their protest inside the House.
Amid the DMK sloganeering, state law minister C T R Nirmal Kumar defended Vijay's remarks, while Leader of the House Sengottaiyan demanded action against the protesting legislators. Speaker JCD Prabhakar subsequently directed the watch and ward staff to evict the DMK MLAs, who were removed from the Assembly by House marshals.