CHENNAI: The year 2023 was a mixed bag for the ruling DMK as the government received bouquets and brickbats in equal measure. Though tainted ministers, administrative challenges due to cyclone and rain, spike in cases of caste atrocities, people’s resistance to schemes like Parandur airport and SIPCOT projects, and anger over hike in power tariff, property tax, and registration charge kept the government constantly on a fire-fighting mode, the state became a trailblazer with its schemes. Several state governments emulated Tamil Nadu and programmes like free breakfast for children, Rs 1,000 honorarium for women, and free bus ride for women passengers became part of the poll manifesto of political parties of all hues.
While the party may have gone through a rough patch because of the challenges and may have not yet cracked the conundrum posed by its asymmetrical financial equation with the union government and a peremptory governor, the political cost of it on the party’s electoral prospects may be limited, primarily due to a lackadaisical opposition. The internecine strife within the main opposition AIADMK, the ideological challenge faced by the BJP in getting a strong foothold in Tamil Nadu, and the political cohesion within the DMK front may have helped the government ease through the turmoil with little trouble in 2023. But 2024 may be a different story.
The year was also significant for the coming-of-age of Udhayanidhi Stalin, whose position within the government was formally sealed with a ministerial post. The greenhorn burnished his Dravidian credentials with his comments on ‘Sanatana Dharma’ that set tongues wagging across the country. The recent spat between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Stalin scion on flood relief fund is a case in point.
“There are no major complaints against the government. We have taken the governor’s issue to the Supreme Court and this shows that we are willing to walk the talk on states’ rights,” said a senior DMK functionary. The DMK seems to have navigated through the turbulence of 2023 by standing on the rubbles of a wrecked opposition, it may have to build its own edifice to face the winds of challenge soon.