CHENNAI : About three weeks after the demise of M Karunanidhi, DMK patriarch, five-time Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and a giant of the Dravidian movement, who called the shots in the national arena too, his son and party working president MK Stalin will don the mantle on Tuesday as his elevation to the post of the DMK president is to be formalised at the party general council meeting.
He will be only the second president of the DMK, founded in 1949 by the late Dravidian movement stalwart, CN Annadurai, who had kept the party president post vacant as he had considered social reformist ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy as the only leader qualified to occupy the seat.
Following the demise of Annadurai in 1969, his successor Karunanidhi managed to become the party’s president with sweeping powers. He remained in the position till his death on August 7.
Despite having the privilege of being a son of the party president, Stalin rose through the ranks of the DMK to get to where he is now, climbing every rung of the ladder in his political career.
Named after Russian leader Joseph Stalin with whom Karunanidhi had a sense of affinity, he plunged into political activism since his teens by organising the local youngsters in his neighbourhood at Gopalapuram in the late 60s.Stalin gained popularity among his partymen after he endured the harsh treatment meted out to him during the black days of Emergency when he was imprisoned under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for about a year.
He had to face several hurdles in his meteoric rise as he was drubbed at the hustings twice. He made his maiden entry into the Legislative Assembly in 1989, elected from the Thousand Lights segment. He was elected four times from the constituency before switching over to Kolathur where from he won twice, in 2011 and 2016.Stalin made a mark as Mayor of Chennai Corporation by taking several steps to decongest the city including construction of overbridges and attempting to give reprieve from monsoon miseries. He was stripped of the post of Mayor shortly after re-election following a new law brought in by then AIADMK government that put the brakes on one person holding two posts.
After becoming a minister in the DMK Cabinet in 2006, he promoted women’s self-help groups to enhance the livelihood of rural women. He used to stand for several hours without a break to disburse funds, exhibiting his commitment.He went on to become the first Deputy CM in 2009, sharing the burden of his father Karunanidhi who was then occupying the Chief Minister’s chair. As part of the run-up to the 2016 Assembly polls, he tried many ricks to catch the attention and imagination of all the sections of the society by holding a roadshow called ‘Namakku Naame’, connecting to the voters.
Stalin also attempted an image makeover by sporting T-shirts and pants instead of the traditional dhoti and hard-pressed white shirts which are the usual attire of politicians.Despite failing to steer his party back to power in 2016, he managed to get DMK 89 MLAs, thereby making it a strong opposition. However, things did not move as he anticipated after the demise of AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. His wait to capitalise on the volatile situation and the internal strife in the AIADMK became a long one leading to doubts over his skills in making things happen, instead of waiting for them to happen.lthough evolving into ‘Thalaivar’ from ‘Thalapathy’, his mastery of drawing political strategies and maneuvering will be put to test in the next general elections to the Lok Sabha.