STALIN IN THE SADDLE
Karunanidhi’s chosen heir is DMK president. Where will the party go from here?
Exactly 20 days after Muthuvel Karunanidhi’s tearful burial on Chennai’s Marina beach, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) anointed the late patriarch’s chosen son, M.K. Stalin, as his successor. The party’s general council at Anna Arivalayam, its Chennai headquarters, elected the 65-year-old as the new party president on August 28. Karunanidhi’s third son, he entered politics as a 14-year-old schoolboy during the 1967 assembly election campaign, which saw the DMK permanently dislodge the Congress from Tamil Nadu.
But despite the relatively young new president, the DMK remains a gerontocracy. Ninety-five-year-old K. Anbazhagan continues as the party’s general secretary, a post he was appointed to in 1977. And Duraimurugan, 70, hitherto the
principal secretary, was elected the new treasurer. Clearly, having played second fiddle to his father for years, Stalin is wary of upsetting the party leadership—all men he has grown up and worked with. That said, he made sure he announced the party’s priorities. In his first speech as party chief, he asked the DMK cadre to “teach a lesson to the Narendra Modi government” and remove the “right-wing” government at the Centre—a major boost to any talk of an Opposition alliance in 2019.
Many believe Stalin’s way will be different from his father’s democratic and consensual approach. “You should put up with my autocratic ways from now on if you want the party to grow. Indiscipline and anti-party activities will not be tolerated,” he told district-level functionaries and the DMK cadre during an interaction in March this year. As the all-powerful party chief, Stalin may live up to the name his father gave him (he even shares the Russian dictator’s birthday).
Meanwhile, Stalin’s older brother, M.K. Azhagiri, who was expelled from the party in 2014, has emerged from political hibernation demanding to be readmitted. He’s warning of “serious consequences” if the new leadership (under Stalin) refuses to take him in. M. Kanimozhi, his stepsister, is expected to be Stalin’s eyes and ears in Delhi, just as Murasoli Maran and his son Dayanidhi Maran were for Karunanidhi.
Chennai-based analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy says that Stalin faces no challenge within the DMK, but “he needs to consolidate his position outside the party as a leader who can win elections”. Stalin’s stewardship as the ageing Karunanidhi’s understudy (particularly since 2011) has not been striking. With him at the helm, the DMK lost two successive assembly polls and suffered a complete rout in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Analysts say the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well as the two upcoming assembly byelections, will be Stalin’s opportunity to prove himself. They will be a test of his ability to negotiate alliances and pick the right candidates. Electoral equations in the state are in a flux after the demise of both Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. With 39 Lok Sabha seats—the fifth highest among all states—Tamil Nadu will play a key role in the formation of the next government in Delhi. If he picks the right allies and candidates, analysts say, Stalin could well be driving the deal.
Many believe he can do it. Stalin’s reputation of being a diligent worker has won him the respect of the cadre. ‘Namakku naame (By us, for us)’, his roadshow ahead of the 2016 assembly polls, had created quite a buzz, especially among the non-committed young voters.
But having always worked in his father’s larger-than-life shadow, he has been a reluctant communicator, often inaccessible even to the cadre. Helming the party now, he will have to shed his earlier reserve.
Madras University political scientist Ramu Manivannan believes that “sobriety and a lack of flamboyance are both his (Stalin’s) strength as well as his weakness. He does not show any urgency or overt sense of anxiousness under any circumstances”. But even though Stalin is nowhere as open and transparent as his father, he has shown himself to be a no-nonsense man—less flexible, but decidedly more consistent.