The 'Secular Social Justice' marketplace: Vijay's PMK shopping strips the alliance of its name

Tamil Nadu's ruling coalition has a name — the "Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance". A fine name. This week we learned its price: one Cabinet berth. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has warned it will quit the Cabinet if the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) enters the alliance. Meanwhile, reports say Chief Minister Vijay is courting the PMK ahead of the January 2027 local body polls, with a ministerial chair for Sowmya — Anbumani Ramadoss's wife and a sitting MLA — rumoured and denied by Sowmya herself. What is unfolding is not coalition politics. It is caste arithmetic. That the VCK, which represents Dalit interests, and the PMK, which represents Vanniyar interests, cannot sit in the same Cabinet is an open truth. A government that courts both sides anyway, knowing this truth, represents what exactly? In the Dravidian tradition, social justice meant dismantling caste hierarchy — the way of Periyar, Anna and Kalaignar. In Vijay's alliance, social justice has become the counting of caste blocs. The VCK's "if the PMK comes, we go" ultimatum and Vijay's "bring the PMK in at any cost" errand are two sides of the same coin: caste as a vote bank, a minister's chair as its price. This is a government that hangs below the 118-seat majority line with 107 seats, ruling not by principle but by headcount. Congress, the VCK and the Indian Union Muslim League sit in the Cabinet; the MDMK extends outside support; and now there is an open auction for the PMK. Ruling by headcount is not social justice; it is the arithmetic of survival, and every berth traded cheapens the name on the alliance board. What would Periyar have called this? The movement was born to destroy precisely this kind of caste bargaining. Today that same bargaining happens under a signboard that reads "social justice". Keep the name. You have lost what it means.