NEW DELHI: The DMK's recent conduct in Parliament has exposed fault lines within the Opposition, with the party repeatedly charting a separate course from the Congress-led bloc on contentious issues during the Monsoon Session so far.
The latest instance came in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday when the DMK did not join the Congress and other opposition parties in staging a walkout during voting on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, following protests over the government's handling of the alleged NEET paper leak and the July 20 police crackdown on student protesters.
A day earlier in the Lok Sabha, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran participating in the debate on the bill criticised the government's handling of examination reforms but stopped short of directly attacking Union Home Minister Amit Shah over police excesses against protesters marching to Parliament -- a line aggressively pursued by the Congress and several other Opposition parties.
The party also charted an independent course on Thursday by becoming the only opposition party to participate in the discussion on The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The DMK's decision to participate in the debate was a departure from the Opposition's parliamentary strategy, not from its political position on the legislation. Its MPs A Raja and Kanimozhi strongly opposed the bill, calling it contrary to the country's secular ethos and alleging that it reflected the Hindutva agenda.
These parliamentary interventions follow the DMK's decision to exit the INDIA bloc following the Congress-TVK alliance and formation of government in Tamil Nadu.
Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Stalin-led party sought and was granted separate seating arrangements in Parliament, underlining its decision to distance itself organisationally from the INDIA bloc.
Considered individually, each of these developments could be dismissed as issue-based parliamentary strategy. Collectively, however, they point to the DMK maintaining visible political distance from the Congress while avoiding direct confrontation with the government on some of the most politically sensitive issues.
On its part, the DMK has sought to play down the implications of its moves.
On Thursday, when asked about the DMK not joining the other opposition parties in walking out during the voting on the anti-paper leak bill, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva told reporters that the party raised some important questions and wanted the government to respond to them.
"We did not walk out. The DMK, DMDK, and some other parties were also present in the House. We tried to move some amendments, but the reply was addressed only to the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. We are completely unconvinced and dissatisfied with the response, and, of course, with the bill itself. The firm stance of the DMK, along with our alliance partners and many others, comes down to a single point, that is to abolish NEET," Siva said.
The timing of the DMK's moves also assumes significance because parliamentary arithmetic has changed considerably over the past few months.
Following the disintegration of the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party, the DMK, with 22 Lok Sabha members, has emerged as the third-largest opposition party in the Lower House.
In the Rajya Sabha, its eight members make it the second-largest opposition party.
Its numbers could become crucial if the government decides to make another attempt at securing passage of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty First Amendment) Bill, 2026, linked to the implementation of women's reservation.
The Constitution Amendment Bill and the accompanying Delimitation Bill, which proposes redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies as a prerequisite for implementing the 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures, were introduced in the previous session.
The bill, however, fell short of the constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, with 298 members voting in favour against 230 opposing it.
The government's numbers have since improved marginally.
The NDA's strength in the Lok Sabha now stands at 299 following the merger of seven Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, still well short of the 360 votes required to pass a constitutional amendment based on the current effective strength of the House.
Twenty Trinamool Congress MPs have joined the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The proposal for their formal merger with the NCPI, however, is pending before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
If approved, the NDA's strength in the House would rise from 299 to 319, bringing it closer to the two-thirds majority mark of 360, though it would still be 41 members short.
