Vijay government at 100 days: An old state, a new ruler, and pros and cons of inexperience

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay being greeted by a child wearing civil uniform during the state level mass pledge event For 'Drug Free Tamil Nadu', at Presidency College Campus, in Chennai on Tuesday (PTI) 8 min readChennaiAug 17, 2026 08:32 PM IST First published on: Aug 17, 2026 at 05:17 PM IST One hundred days is an odd unit for measuring a government – long enough for advertisements and achievement lists, too short to know whether the habits of the state have actually changed. For Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, though, the milestone matters because Tamil Nadu has rarely conducted an experiment quite like this: an old and formidable administrative machine suddenly occupied by a political class with almost no experience operating it.