‘My jaws were indeed broken in jail during Emergency’: Stalin responds to Tamil Nadu CM Vijay
DMK president M.K. Stalin criticized Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay for making insensitive gestures regarding his past imprisonment during the Emergency. Stalin used the incident to call for more dignified political discourse and professional conduct from the Chief Minister.
Why it matters
The exchange highlights the intense political rivalry and the importance of decorum in state-level governance in India.
DMK president M.K. Stalin on Thursday (September 10, 2026) said that the alleged body-shaming gesture made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay in the Assembly was indeed reflective of what had happened to him, as he had been brutally attacked by the police in prison and had his jawbones broken during the Emergency.
In a video released on social media explaining what had befallen him in prison, Mr. Stalin said that he and others had been lodged in a leper ward.
While responding to the demands for grants for the Police and Fire and Rescue Services departments in the Assembly, Mr. Vijay recalled Mr. Stalin’s arrest during the Emergency and made a gesture referring to his broken jaw. Following condemnation from the CPI(M) , he contended that his gesture was misunderstood .
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