VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan has issued a detailed statement addressing his absence from a book launch on Dr BR Ambedkar, challenging the narrative surrounding his decision and questioning the event organisers' selection of actor Vijay as the chief guest.
The book, titled, Elorukkumaana Thalaivar Ambedkar (Ambedkar: A Leader for All), is co-published by Vikatan and VCK vice president Aadhav Arjuna’s political strategy firm, Voice of Commons. The book was launched on the evening of December 6—the death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.
In a strongly worded statement, Thirumavalavan accused critics of attempting to create political divisions, questioning why no one has challenged Vikatan's decision to replace him with actor Vijay, despite Thirumavalavan's prior commitment to the event.
"Many have questioned my courage and alliance stance, but no one has asked why Vikatan chose to exclude me," the MP from Chidambaram said, highlighting what he perceives as selective scrutiny.
The book, featuring contributions from around 40 intellectuals and political activists, including scholar Anand Teltumbde, also contains an interview with Thirumavalavan.
Elorukkumaana Thalaivar Ambedkar was earlier scheduled to release in April this year but was postponed due to certain reasons. As TNM previously reported on PowerTrip, the organisers had initially approached both Chief Minister MK Stalin and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi but heard back from neither. Vijay who was approached later, accepted an invite to launch the book. With Thirumavalavan also in attendance, sources had told TNM at the time that there was immense pressure on the VCK president to skip the event.
The VCK leader also drew attention to what he termed media sensationalism, pointing out the differential treatment in reporting political stage-sharing incidents, specifically referencing Chief Minister MK Stalin and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's joint appearance in August.
Thirumavalavan maintained that he would never have requested Vijay's exclusion and does not wish to create inconvenience for the organisers.
The statement comes a day after the MP's interview to a Tamil news channel, where he had indicated his decision to skip the launch to avoid political colour being attributed to the event.