Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin often referred to by his initials as MK Stalin, is an Indian Tamil politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The son of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Stalin has been the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party since 28 August 2018. He served as the 37th Mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002 and 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2011. Stalin was placed 24th on the list of India's Most Powerful Personalities in 2022 by The Indian Express.

Early life and family

Stalin is the third son of 2nd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi, and was born to his wife, Dayalu Ammal. Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953. Karunanidhi was addressing a condolence meeting for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who died only four days after his child was born, and thus decided to name his son after Stalin.

Stalin studied at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School. He completed a pre-university course at Vivekananda College, and obtained a history degree from Presidency College, Chennai of University of Madras in 1973. Stalin was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Anna University on August 1, 2009.

Stalin married Durga (alias Shantha) on August 20, 1975, and has two children.

His son is Udhayanidhi Stalin, an actor and politician. Udhayanidhi is married to Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, an Indian Tamil film director.

His daughter is Senthamarai Sabareesan, an entrepreneur and educationist. She is the director of Sunshine Schools, Chennai. Senthamarai is married to Sabareesan Vedamurthy, an entrepreneur and political strategist.

Like his father, Stalin has also publicly disclosed that he is an atheist. But he also said that he is not against any religious beliefs.

Politics

His political career began in his early teens when he started the DMK Gopalapuram Youth Wing with several friends. As a 14 year old, he campaigned for his uncle, Murasoli Maran, in the 1967 elections. In 1973, Stalin was elected to the General committee of the DMK.

He came to the limelight when he was jailed in Central Prison, Madras under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for protesting against the Emergency in 1976. He was beaten up in custody and a fellow DMK prisoner C. Chittibabu died of injuries and police torture while protecting him. He wrote his final year BA exams while in prison. Stalin formed the DMK youth wing. In 1982 Stalin became the youth wing secretary of DMK, a post he held for more than four decades.

Youth Wing

In 1968, Stalin started the DMK Youth Wing in Gopalapuram in a barber shop with his friends. In 1983, he transformed the Gopalapuram Youth Wing into a Statewide phenomenon and led the frontal as a Secretary, a position he held for more than four decades. During the early stages of the Youth Wing, he travelled across Tamil Nadu with other members to mentor fellow youth of the state in key areas of active politics at the grassroots level

Member of legislative assembly

Stalin contested the Assembly polls unsuccessfully from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai. In 1989 Stalin contested Assembly polls from Thousand Lights constituency again, and won. The DMK government got dismissed in 1991 before completing its full five-year term. In 1991, he contested for the third time from the same Assembly constituency, but lost to K. A. Krishnaswamy of the AIADMK. Again in 1996, Stalin won the election as an MLA from the Thousand Lights constituency.

In 2003, Stalin became Deputy General Secretary of the DMK. In 2011 Stalin changed his constituency for the first time in his political career, moving from Thousand Lights to Kolathur constituency on the outskirts of Chennai city.

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Stalin led the campaign for the Secular Progressive Alliance. They won 159 seats out of 234, with the DMK itself winning an absolute majority with 132 seats. Stalin took his oath as chief minister on 7 May 2021 along with the rest of his cabinet.

Having taken oath amid the second wave of the pandemic, Stalin started a war room to monitor the status of beds, ambulances, and oxygen supply. He attended an SOS call of a lady, spoke with her for 30 minutes, and arranged for her a bed at a hospital. He wore a PPE suit and visited the COVID-19 patients at their wards "against advice" in Government ESI Medical College Hospital. A new economic advisory council was set up with leading economists, including Esther Duflo, Raghuram Rajan, Jean Drèze, Arvind Subramanian, and former Finance Secretary S Narayan. Tamil Nadu was branded as a state with highest novel coronavirus vaccine wastage in the previous government but the Stalin government made the state to top in the list of states with lowest COVID-19 wastage policy.

Stalin handed over appointment orders of the HR & CE Department to trained aspirants of all castes as temple priests in August 2021. Stalin quoted the reformist leader Periyar in an official release which said Periyar fought for equal rights in worship for all those who believe in God. In August 2021, Stalin ranked first among all Chief ministers of India with 42% in favour, in the "Mood of the Nation" survey done by the India Today magazine. Stalin changed the name of Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camps to called ‘rehabilitation camps' and said "They are not orphans, we are there for them". In September 2021, he announced that Periyar's birth anniversary will be celebrated as Social Justice Day every year.

In June 2021, Stalin announced that the state law ministry will review the legal cases filed by the previous government. In September 2021, Stalin's government withdrew over 5570 legal cases filed by the previous AIADMK government from the past 10 years against the journalists and the protestors seeking the repeal of the three farm laws promulgated by the Union government, Citizenship Amendment Act, methane extraction, neutrino project, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the Chennai-Salem Expressway project.

In May 2022, Stalin hailed the release of Perarivalan, convicted in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, and hugged him on his visit of gratitude at the Chennai Airport.

Committee assignments of 16th Tamil Nadu Assembly

Member (2021–23) Business Advisory Committee
Member (2021–23) Committee on Rules

Public image and Reception

Stalin’s career in the political arena has seen its ups and downs. From a challenger to an emerging pragmatic leader, the people of Tamil Nadu have credited his administrative skills and firm rejection of sycophancy. A classic example of this is when M.K Stalin asked the Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhil not to print his photographs on 65 lakh bags meant for distribution among schoolchildren in the state, opting to retain pictures of his political adversaries from the previous government that had sanctioned the project.

Stalin was commended by domain experts and other ministers across the country for  not using public money to enhance his popularity among the “masses”.

On September 2, 2021 the Actor turned former Union Minister K. Chiranjeevi met with Stalin to commend him on governance efficacy and said he proved his mettle in handling the grave situation of Covid-19 pandemic. The Media houses in Kerala lauded Stalin on his policies and efforts in controlling the spread of Coronavirus during the second wave, provision of free bus pass for women and Rs 4,000 as a pandemic relief for ration card holders.

The Shiv Sena Parliamentarian Sanjay Raut, in his weekly column Rokthok in party mouthpiece Saamana praised Stalin’s governance style and criticized the Centre’s move to omit Jawaharlal Nehru and  Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s picture from ICHR’s Independence day poster ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav.’ Raut said the central government is practising the politics of revenge and should learn a lesson from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin, who allowed the distribution of 6.5 million school bags carrying photos of political rivals former chief ministers J Jayalalitha and E Palaniswami of the AIADMK, to ensure public money is not being spent on political vendetta.

Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai commended Stalin's nuanced policies and continual effort in controlling the spread of covid-19 at the peak of the second wave.

Electoral performance