MK Stalin earned his position after struggling in the opposition ranks for a long time. Udhayanidhi has not had to huff and puff.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday, 14 December, inducted his son and MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin into his Cabinet. Here, Udhayanidhi is seen with his father, TN Governor RN Ravi, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, and others (Twitter/DMK)
Udhayanidhi Stalin’s induction into the Tamil Nadu government as a minister is the clearest sign that the DMK, one of India’s oldest political parties, is preparing him to step into his father and Chief Minister MK Stalin’s shoes one day.
The 45-year-old MLA may not catapult into the big post any time soon but his elevation will follow, with some obvious differences, the trajectory of MK Stalin from the time M Karunanidhi made it amply clear who would succeed him as the next boss of the DMK.
But unlike MK Stalin, who had to overcome hurdles within the DMK before taking over its reins, Udhayanidhi Stalin may be lucky. There is bound to be some heartburn in the party, but there will be no Vaiko to contend with as in the case of his father.
Udhayanidhi Stalin’s advantages include a mostly non-controversial past, the Stalin badge, membership of one of India’s most successful political families, and a fairly successful run both in the Tamil film industry and as a member of the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Chennai’s Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency.
Udhayanidhi Stalin with his father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and mother Durga Stalin on the day he was inducted into the Cabinet (Twitter/Udhayanidhi Stalin)
His aggressive campaign both in the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 Assembly elections attracted attention and reaped dividends for the DMK.
After the Lok Sabha battle, when Udhayanidhi Stalin attacked both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, MK Stalin appointed him the head of the DMK Youth Wing. It was a post the incumbent chief minister himself held for well over three decades till his iconic father M Karunanidhi died in March 2018.
Even before MK Stalin re-nominated Udhayanidhi as the DMK Youth Wing leader a fortnight ago, it was evident that the son was set to rise. Sections of the party, either on their own or on understandable cue, had started to demand Udhayanidhi’s promotion to the government as a minister so that the younger Stalin gained administrative exposure.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is sworn in as a minister in his father’s Cabinet on Wednesday, 14 December (Twitter/Udhayanidhi Stalin)
After the way Rahul Gandhi dented his prospects by remaining outside the Congress-led UPA government for 10 long years, the DMK learnt a valuable lesson. Udhayanidhi’s elevation is an outcome of that.
Unlike his father’s three long decades, it took only three years for Udhayanidhi Stalin — an atheist married to an atheist — to leapfrog from the post of DMK Youth Wing secretary to a minister.
If speculation is to be taken seriously, Udhayanidhi may be anointed as the deputy chief minister ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha battle, which will be followed in 2026 by the Assembly election in Tamil Nadu. But irrespective of how the DMK fares in these two contests, it is unlikely anyone other than Udhayanidhi will be MK Stalin’s successor in the party, dissidence or no dissidence.
Accusations of dynastic succession have been hurled. Both the AIADMK and BJP in particular have become aggressive after Udhayanidhi Stalin’s elevation as minister. This certainly will have no impact on the DMK, which saw Karunanidhi hand over the baton, after fighting both MGR as well as Vaiko, to his chosen son, MK Stalin, ignoring many veterans in the party. In any case, Tamil Nadu’s voters voted overwhelmingly for the DMK in 2019 and 2021, giving virtual approval to the family takeover.
TN Governor RN Ravi and Chief Minister MK Stalin with Udhayanidhi Stalin and other Tamil Nadu ministers on 14 December (Twitter/Udhayanidhi Stalin)
But the positive response to one son may not necessarily translate into something similar for another.
MK Stalin, whether you like him or not, earned the brownie points of a political animal after struggling in the opposition ranks for a long time. Udhayanidhi has not had to huff and puff in comparison.
Voters will be led by circumstances; the younger Stalin’s future is bound to be decided more by the political situation than anything else. As long as the DMK remains on top politically, he will have a good run. No wonder, when confronted by charges of dynasty, Udhayanidhi retorted sometime back: “Look at my report card, not my birth certificate.”
(MR Narayan Swamy is a freelance journalist in New Delhi. He began his career more than four decades ago. He had a long innings in UNI, AFP, and IANS. His focus areas are diplomacy, politics, and spirituality, and he loves to read and review books. He is the author of three books on the Sri Lankan conflict. These are the personal views of the author)
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