CHENNAI: It was sunrise for the DMK after a decade as the party romped home in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls in 2021 with a resounding mandate. Nationally, too, the party’s 24 Lok Sabha members and 10 Rajya Sabha MPs catapulted Stalin to national politics; but the ideological polarity with the Centre and Tamil Nadu’s financial challenges may compel the Dravidian major to do a tightrope walk.
The journey of governance so far has been smooth for the DMK, but the State’s tight fiscal position and a possible third Covid-19 wave may make the going tough. The acceptability of Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi as the next in line to the throne, and the challenges in maintaining a cordial relationship with the BJP at the Centre while being an ally of the Congress are all challenges which the party may not easily overcome.
The DMK had rode to power on the back of more than 500 poll promises. Its start converged with the second wave of Covid-19, and it acted quickly to tackle the crisis. Today, new cases are down to three digits from more than 30,000 cases per day.
While the government then slashed the price of Aavin milk by Rs 3 per litre, reduced VAT on petrol, and offered free ride to women in government buses, some poll promises like Rs 1,000 per month to households headed by women, Rs 100 subsidy for LPG cylinders, cutting tax on diesel, and changing electricity bill cycle to monthly basis, remain unfulfilled.
Efficient Covid-19 management, assembly resolutions against NEET, farm laws, CAA, and robust flood mitigation may have won the government plaudits from the people, but rising prices, and crisis in the industries sector, which was exacerbated by the global Covid lockdown and job losses, may take a toll on its popularity sooner than later. The State is also struggling to get its share of GST due from the Centre.
The Union minister of State for finance recently told Parliament that a part of the GST compensation of Rs 9,845.48 crore was released to Tamil Nadu for the period April 2020 to March 2021. The State had also attracted nearly Rs 19,000 crore and added one lakh new jobs over the past six months.
Though the DMK is trying to paper over the political and ideological feud with the BJP at the Centre, the clashes do boil over at times, with Stalin himself slamming the Centre for treating the State as its slave over GST dues and flood relief. The party, too, on multiple occasions attacked the Centre over a clutch of new laws, which, it says, undermine federalism.
The fact that the State is getting ready to roll out a red carpet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his visit to Tamil Nadu to inaugurate 11 government medical colleges in January, lays bare a political reality. The party can cross swords with the BJP, but it must put on a happy face to keep the administrative business running with the saffron party at the Centre.