Stalin at 70: Rise of a leader

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who turns 70 on Wednesday, has come a long way in his eventful political career. Having served as the Youth Wing Secretary of the DMK in his early days, the scion of the Karunanidhi family went on to occupy the seat of the Mayor of Chennai during the late 90s, and subsequently helmed the portfolios of the Local Administration Minister, and Deputy CM during the late 2000s. As he embraces a new decade of his life, Tamil Nadu bears witness to Stalin’s emergence as an astute statesman, and arguably one of the most powerful Dravidian leaders in the State since late M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa.

Anti-incumbency wise, Stalin’s position in State politics remains undisputed as a people’s leader. His closest competition comes from the likes of AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswamy. And although the Opposition leader can be credited with consolidating his hold on the party by marginalising OPS, thanks to his strengths in electoral and political management, his success in endearing himself to the masses is nowhere near Stalin’s.

Stalin holds more influence among the people, when one considers leaders in the non-BJP contingent. He heads the DMK, which is the third largest party in the Lok Sabha with 24 members, trailed by AITC which has 23. He has also won the appreciation of national leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, as he has pitched the narrative for a national non-BJP alliance by bringing together some of the biggest parties in the country. While several Opposition parties are opposed to the idea of including the Congress as part of this alliance, thanks to the prime ministerial ambitions of the party chiefs, DMK is one of the few major parties that foresees an alliance with the Congress in tow. Stalin has also been a vocal critic of the BJP’s policies and is a strong advocate of social justice and federalism, as against the national party’s policy of centralism.

Having said that, Stalin has also found himself at the receiving end of criticism on account of his supposed inaccessibility, vis-a-vis granting interviews to the media, something that has invited comparisons to PM Modi. His reluctance to deal with troublemakers in the party with an iron fist has also been questioned. Of course, these might sound like minor quibbles to a party leader who has taken on the mantle of leadership without rest, as Stalin has often found himself right in the thick of the action, whether it was dealing with public grievances in the aftermath of the pandemic, or natural disasters like cyclones.

The CM has a tall order ahead of him in 2024 when the Lok Sabha elections begin. His role as the binding factor could come to the fore during the electoral season. It is similar to how his father, M Karunanidhi was instrumental in the genesis of the UPA 1 and UPA 2. The alliances were formed by two groups — the Congress and Left parties which were diametrically opposed in ideology, and seemed impossibly disparate.

Stalin had united the Left and Congress successfully in Tamil Nadu. Now, as the frontman of the All India Federation for Social Justice, he once again has the mandate to deliver this union on the national front, to present a formidable challenge to the BJP, and open up the floodgates for an alternative vision for governance in India.