Vijay Builds On MK Stalin's Breakfast Scheme, But Gives It A New Identity

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has chosen to retain and expand one of the MK Stalin government's most visible welfare initiatives - the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme for school children - while simultaneously giving it a new political identity by renaming it after Congress icon Kamaraj.The decision to extend free breakfast to students up to Class VIII means Vijay is not dismantling a flagship scheme of the previous government. Instead, his government is adding to a programme that has become closely associated with the DMK's welfare record.Launched by the MK Stalin government in 2022 as the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme, it initially covered primary schoolchildren in government schools and was subsequently expanded to students in government-aided schools.Vijay's government is now taking it further, bringing another 15.30 lakh students in 15,454 government and government-aided schools under the programme. An additional Rs 217.63 crore has been allocated. It would totally cost the government Rs 724 crore.For a government keen to establish its own welfare credentials, the political choice is significant - retain a popular DMK initiative, expand its reach, but change its name.மாண்புமிகு தமிழ்நாடு முதலமைச்சர் திரு.ச.ஜோசப் விஜய் அவர்கள் இன்று (22.9.2026), தமிழ்நாட்டில் உள்ள அனைத்து அரசு மற்றும் அரசு உதவிபெறும் பள்ளிகளில் ஆறாம் வகுப்பு முதல் எட்டாம் வகுப்பு வரை பயிலும் மாணவ, மாணவியர் பயன்பெறும் வகையில் பெருந்தலைவர் காமராஜர் காலை உணவுத் திட்ட… pic.twitter.com/Galyt2gOD4— CMOTamilNadu (@CMOTamilnadu) September 22, 2026From Stalin's Scheme To Kamaraj's NameThe government has renamed the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme as the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme, invoking the legacy of former Chief Minister and Congress leader K Kamaraj, who is widely associated with the expansion of school education and the state's school-meal initiatives.The name change has predictably triggered a political debate over who gets credit for the scheme.The name change of the breakfast scheme has, predictably, started a row"We aren't bothered who launched it, but we want people to benefit and hence we are enhancing this and even Amma Canteens Jayalalithaa launched," TVK national spokesperson Americai Narayanan told NDTV. On the decision to name the scheme after Kamaraj, he said, "Kamaraj is the one who launched this and it's only fitting."The DMK, however, has criticised the move. "Their only job is to change the name of schemes we launched, they don't do anything on their own," DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said.That exchange captures the larger political contest over welfare ownership in Tamil Nadu - whether a successor government inherits a popular scheme, or whether it can claim political ownership by expanding and rebranding it.Vijay seen serving breakfast to school studentsA Welfare Legacy Built Across GovernmentsTamil Nadu's school-meal history itself makes the politics of ownership more interesting.The roots go back to the Justice Party era under British rule, when a meal programme was introduced at a Chennai Corporation school in 1920 in the then Madras Presidency.Kamaraj subsequently played a major role in expanding school education and the school-meal programme. MGR transformed it into the Nutritious Meal Scheme. Karunanidhi added eggs to the menu. Stalin introduced the free breakfast programme.Vijay is now adding another layer by extending breakfast to middle-school students.Vijay inaugurated the expansion of the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Morning Meal Scheme at Gandhi Gramam, Chennai Central SchoolWhy Stalin's Scheme Matters PoliticallyThe breakfast programme is particularly significant because it has been positioned as more than a food-distribution scheme.The programme ensured that children from economically weaker families did not begin their school day hungry besides improving attendance, concentration, reducing drop out from education and ultimately improving the outcome of school education.Children And Women - From Fan Base To Political ConstituenciesThere is another political dimension to Vijay's focus on welfare for children and women.Children themselves do not vote, but their enthusiasm for Vijay has been seen to influence voting choices within families, with parents and grandparents saying their children's support for the actor-turned-politician had shaped their own decisions.Vijay has also publicly acknowledged the support of children, youth and women, highlighting the role he believes they played in mobilising families and encouraging voter participation.That makes the focus on children politically interesting. Vijay is not merely addressing today's schoolchildren through welfare - he is nurturing a relationship with the next generation that already forms an important part of his mass following.The same political attention is visible in his focus on women, another important constituency for his movement. His government has announced initiatives including a dedicated women police force to tackle crimes against women and free silk sarees for brides.The breakfast scheme, free branded bicycles for higher-secondary students and other child-focused measures including free gold ring for newborns in government hospitals, therefore sit within a broader political strategy of staying connected with families - including the younger generation that helped turn Vijay's enormous fan following into political support.This has inevitably invited comparisons with another star-turned-Chief Minister MGR, who built a powerful welfare-oriented political identity and remained in power for three consecutive terms till his death. The Kamaraj Factor - And The Congress AllianceThe choice of Kamaraj's name adds another layer to the politics. Congress is a crucial ally of the minority TVK government, whose support has helped Vijay's government cross the majority mark in the Assembly.The Congress, however, has been uncomfortable with the growing chorus within the TVK projecting Vijay as a potential prime ministerial face, with the party maintaining that Rahul Gandhi is its choice for prime minister.Against this backdrop, invoking Kamaraj - one of Tamil Nadu Congress's most enduring political icons - gives the alliance an additional symbolic dimension.