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3 years of Stalin as Tamil Nadu CM — ‘governance style more like Jayalalithaa than Karunanidhi’

In 1st stint as CM, Stalin focused on welfare schemes & empowered civil servants but ‘there are reservations’. Political analysts also point out need for DMK chief to shed 'dead weight'.

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Chennai: In 2021, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years. All eyes were on M.K. Stalin — son of late party patriarch M. Karunanidhi — who was about to start his maiden stint as chief minister.

One of the first things that Stalin did after taking charge was sign a government order facilitating free bus travel for women, indicating that welfare measures would be his priority going forward.

As his government completed three years on 7 May, while welfare schemes and projects have dominated Stalin’s maiden stint as chief minister, he has also had to field allegations of corruption from rivals and a muted pushback from his ministers over what they see as handing over more power to the civil service than has been the norm in the state.

“Though he (Stalin) has fulfilled promises, somewhere along the line, there are reservations among certain sections of society on the overall performance of the government. There is a lack of governance leading to corruption at multiple levels that may not reflect now, but would cost the DMK in the 2026 assembly election,” N. Sathiya Moorthy, a political analyst, told ThePrint.

The rival AIADMK and BJP have constantly targeted the DMK government for graft.

BJP state president K. Annamalai last April released a series of “DMK files”, levelling corruption charges against the party, questioning the source of income of production house Red Giant Movies, owned by Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi, and accused Sabareesan, Stalin’s son-in-law, of involvement in money laundering.

Political watchers believe the chief minister has also not been able to handle some “dead weight” senior leaders in the party, who have been dragging the DMK down with their controversial actions and non-cooperative stance.

MK Stalin posing for a selfie with supporters during his morning walk | ANI
MK Stalin posing for a selfie with supporters during his morning walk | ANI

Moreover, as Stalin completes three years, many within his government say his working style is more similar to that of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK matriarch late J. Jayalalithaa, than his father Karunanidhi.

Voters in Tamil Nadu had elected the DMK and AIADMK alternately in the state from 1989 until 2016, when Jayalalithaa won a second consecutive term, making the DMK wait until 2021 for its turn.


Also Read: MK Stalin calls for united Opposition against BJP & its ‘gross discrimination’ at his ‘social justice’ meeting


Three years of DMK govt

Dressed in a white shirt and veshti edged with a red and black border, Stalin boarded bus number 29C on Chennai’s Radhakrishnan Road on 7 May, 2022, marking the first year of his term in office by interacting with people about their experiences under the DMK government.

“It is his style of accessing the schemes implemented in the state,” said an IAS officer who was part of implementing the chief minister’s flagship initiatives. “He is the first CM in Tamil Nadu to do so. Though this is his maiden term as chief minister, he does not look so.”

Stalin interacting with passengers on a government bus in Chennai in May 2022 | ANI
Stalin interacting with passengers on a government bus in Chennai in May 2022 | ANI

It was soon after his first year at the helm, in September 2022, that Stalin announced a free breakfast scheme for government school students, which has now been extended to government-aided schools as well.

“It was in a similar manner that he checked how the scheme was implemented in schools. He sat with children in a primary school and had the morning breakfast with them. He, in fact, interacted with students about the taste of the food,” the officer said.

The State Planning Commission studied the effect of the scheme and found that the attendance of students in government schools had increased after its implementation.

“Normally, attendance of students would range between 60-70 percent. However, after the implementation of the breakfast scheme, the attendance percentage has increased to 90-95 percent. We have also heard from teachers that students don’t look tired anymore,” J. Jeyarangan, deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission, told ThePrint.

The Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Pudhumai Penn scheme providing monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to each girl child pursuing higher education, and Kalaignar Mahalir Urimai Thittam, a scheme to provide Rs 1,000 monthly financial aid to women, are other key schemes implemented in Tamil Nadu since the DMK took charge. 

A report published by the state government on the schemes noted that the enrolment ratio of girls in higher education institutions had increased by 29 percent in the 2022-2023 academic year in the wake of the Pudhumai Penn scheme.

“During the three years, we have implemented several schemes and welfare initiatives for the benefit of the people and the happiness on the faces of the beneficiaries is a testimony to it,” Stalin said in a video message on completing three years as chief minister.

State civil servants ThePrint spoke to compared Stalin with Jayalalithaa instead of Karunanidhi. Stalin, they said, entrusted civil servants with more responsibilities than his senior party ministers, unlike his father.

“There is near-zero interference from the ministers’ side. This was how former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa would work. It was never so in the previous DMK regimes under M. Karunanidhi. At the same time, he (Stalin) does not hold any grudge against IAS and IPS officers, unlike Jayalalithaa. If he feels an officer is fit for a position, he lets them continue in the same department even if he or she was appointed by the previous AIADMK government,” said another IAS officer, who worked as a department secretary during the tenures of both the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK and Karunanidhi-led DMK governments.

Another secretary pointed to similarities between Stalin and Karunanidhi in terms of governance and assertion of state rights.

“One of the greatest qualities of M. Karunanidhi was his diplomatic relationship with all. I think, after Kalaignar (Karunanidhi), only M.K. Stalin maintains it,” the secretary said.

Stalin paying floral tribute to former chief ministers M. Karunanidhi and C.N. Annadurai in Chennai in March 2024 | ANI
Stalin paying floral tribute to former chief ministers M. Karunanidhi and C.N. Annadurai in Chennai in March 2024 | ANI

Referring to the Cauvery water row, the officer added: “Had he (Stalin) wanted to fight a legal battle with the Karnataka government, he would have very well gone ahead with it. But, he has understood the consequences and chose otherwise.”

The officer also said that Stalin was choosing his battles wisely, referring to the fight with the central government over funds.

“Tamil Nadu is really running under fund deficit and we need more money to successfully run all the welfare schemes that were initiated. That’s when he (Stalin) approached the Supreme Court, urging it to direct the Union government to disburse the funds that it needed,” the officer explained.

‘CM burdened with certain ministers’

However, according to political analysts, Stalin is being burdened by the actions of certain ministers and being held responsible for their actions.

“Stalin has spared several senior ministers who have brought a bad reputation to the DMK and been non-cooperative during the Lok Sabha polls. It would set a wrong image of the party in front of the young blood who wish to join it. Ideally, he should have acted against them (ministers) and ousted them when he got the chance,” said T. Sigamani, a political commentator.

In October 2022, DMK’s higher education minister minister K. Ponmudy referred to the free bus travel scheme for women as “OC Bus”, OC being slang for “free”.

Ponmudy was later convicted in a disproportionate assets case and briefly removed from the council of ministers, before the Supreme Court stayed the conviction. He was reinstated into the Cabinet later. He also apologised for his comments on free bus travel.

Political analyst A. Ramasamy, former head of the Tamil department at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, said he believed Stalin should have taken a chance and shown Ponmudy the way out.

“In terms of efficiency, he (Ponmudy) has not been up to the mark as he used to be. In terms of politics, too, he is causing damage to the party. Stalin should have taken his conviction as a chance to permanently remove him from the ministry and bring in efficient people,” he said.

Sigamani pointed out that some ministers like S. Muthusamy, minister for housing and urban development, were not pulling in all the stops for the Lok Sabha elections.

“Right from the beginning, he (Muthusamy) has not been cooperating with party workers, is what I have been hearing from the ground. He actually started working when just a few days were left for the election campaign,” said Sigamani.

In 2022, during the party’s general council meeting, Stalin had reflected on how he was taking the blame for the actions of his partymen. “I will be blamed if there is no rain, and I will also be blamed if there is excess rain. I am bound to answer to the criticism from all sides. As a leader of the party and chief minister of the state, I am like a drum that is being beaten on both sides,” Stalin had reportedly said at the meeting.

However, DMK’s former Rajya Sabha MP T.K.S. Elangovan told ThePrint that Stalin did not want to disregard the work of party seniors. “Just with one or two incidents, our leader did not want to undermine the efforts made by the seniors to build the party at the grassroots-level. Though he has not taken action, he often warns the seniors as and when it (any controversial act) comes to his knowledge,” Elangovan said.

He added that Stalin at the same time would also not allow senior members to continue indefinitely, if he felt that they were not paying heed to his warnings. “Stalin removed S.M. Nasar from the dairy ministry after realising that he was not taking the warnings from the chief minister seriously. It is not that he spares them indefinitely,” Elangovan said.

The ‘problems’ with Stalin

Though the report card for Stalin’s welfare scheme seems to be good so far, his approach towards civil servants has apparently not gone down well with his party seniors.

“This is not how Karunanidhi used to deal with ministers,” a state minister told ThePrint, not wishing to be named.

Despite having high regard for the chief minister, the minister said he was finding it difficult to cope on the ground as officials were not paying attention to his words. “They directly speak to the chief minister. We feel like we are left out in certain things as we don’t have a hold over implementation of schemes since the officials themselves take care of it. But, it is we who know whether the scheme has actually reached the people or not,” he said.

He further recalled how Karunanidhi used to treat ministers.

“When Kalaignar was chief minister, a department secretary complained about a minister to him directly. Kalaignar listened to him and asked the secretary to come the next day to his cabin. When the secretary went to the chief minister’s cabin, the particular minister was also there. Kalaignar sarcastically asked the minister ‘is this how you run your department, letting your department people take things to me’,” the minister recalled.

Political analysts ThePrint spoke to also said that certain aspects of Stalin’s style of governance were problematic. “Giving a free hand to bureaucrats has led to corruption at the ground level. The end users (people) get affected because of this and it might reflect in the next two years,” Sigamani said.

‘Surpassed his father in political strategy’

While senior DMK leaders are upset over Stalin’s way of governance, the only solace they have for now is that they have a free hand while working for the party in their respective regions. Similar to the method adopted by Karunanidhi, Stalin has also demarcated ministers’ regions, empowering them in terms of party activities, said Ramasamy.

“Kalaignar did not encourage dynasty politics for party workers. But, Stalin accommodates the senior leader’s successors during elections. This is in a way a tactic to not have questions raised on bringing his son to the top position. On ground, it has reflected well in coordinating the workers,” Ramasamy said.

Apart from controlling party workers, Stalin is also being appreciated for having the state’s Secular Progressive Alliance intact for the third consecutive election. The alliance comprises the DMK, Congress, CPI, CPM, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and other smaller parties.

“He (Stalin) did not yield to the suggestions of a senior minister to bring in Pattali Makkal Katchi into the alliance, which would have paved the way for the VCK, an Ambedkarite party, to leave the alliance. In that way, Stalin has surpassed his father in framing a political strategy to face the election,” said political commentator Raveenthran Duraisamy.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)


Also Read: ‘BJP spreading fire of autocracy’: Stalin vows to join Nitish-led Oppn meet months after migrant row


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1 COMMENT

  1. Comparison does not work here. In Jayalalithaa regime law & order was always good. In Stalin regime there’s no law & order

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