From ‘commander’ to chief, he rose through the ranks

STALIN OFTEN CREDITS FORMER PM INDIRA GANDHI FOR BRINGING HIM INTO POLITICS BY HAVING HIM ARRESTED UNDER MISA IN 1976

CHENNAI: Named after the Soviet communist dictator Josef Stalin, Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was not the original heir apparent of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. He is Karunanidhi’s third son from his second wife, Dayalu Ammal.

Initially M K Muthu, Stalin’s step-brother from Karunanidhi’s first wife, Padmavathi, was being groomed as his successor. Muthu, however, defected to the AIADMK .

Stalin started his political career with the Gopalapuram Maanavar Mandram (Gopalapuram student’s forum). During the Emergency, Stalin, then 23, was arrested under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in 1976 and jailed.

Apart from his father, Stalin often credits former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who declared the Emergency, for bringing him into politics by having him arrested under MISA.

“It was a shock to party cadres to see the name of Stalin in the party mouthpiece, Murasoli, arrested under MISA,” recalls D Ravikumar, general secretary, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi.

Stalin worked hard to build the DMK youth wing and became its secretary in 1984. He was granted a DMK ticket to contest the assembly elections in 1984, but first won in 1989 from the Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai. He was mayor of Chennai Corporation from 1996 to 2001.

When the DMK regained power in 2006, he was made the local administration minister in his father’s cabinet. Within the party, too, his stars had been rising. In 2003, he was elevated as deputy general secretary, considered the fourth most powerful post in the party. In 2008, he took over as treasurer of the DMK.

In 2009, Karunanidhi appointed Stalin as deputy chief minister. In 2017, the DMK’S by-laws were changed to make him the working president.

Ahead of the 2016 assembly elections, Stalin also known as Thalapathy, led the ‘Namakku Naame’ (We for Ourselves) campaign. The DMK, however, could bag only 89 of the 234 seats and the AIADMK won. The result was seen as a setback to Stalin’s leadership abilities.

Since 2016, the DMK has lost four by-elections. With his elder brother, Azhagiri unfurling a banner of revolt against him, Stalin has to prove that he has what it takes to keep the party together and lead it to electoral victory.