Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin[a] (born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician serving as the eighth and current chief minister of Tamil Nadu since 2021. He is the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party since 28 August 2018, and served as the acting president of party from January 2017 to August 2018.
Stalin began his political career in the late 1960s, and was elected to the general committee of the DMK in 1973. He was jailed during the emergency in 1976. He became the secretary of the youth wing of the DMK in 1982, a post which he held for more than four decades. He served as the 45th mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002. He has been elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly eight times. He served as the first deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2011.
In 2009, Stalin was conferred an honorary doctorate by Anna University. In 2022, Stalin was ranked 24th on the list of India's most powerful personalities by The Indian Express.[1]
Stalin established the youth wing of the DMK in 1982 and became its secretary, a post he held for more than four decades.[3] During the 1980s, he travelled across Tamil Nadu to encourage and mentor youth to join active politics.[20] In 1989, he was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Thousand Lights, and represented the constituency five times.[3] In 2003, he became Deputy General Secretary of the DMK.[10]
Mayor of Chennai
Stalin became the mayor of Chennai in 1996.[21] As the mayor, he initiated theSingara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai) project to improve the infrastructure of the city.[3] He modernised the garbage disposal system by giving priority to cleaning works, and implemented integrated development projects such as health, public construction and schools. He addressed the traffic congestion issues by building multiple flyovers.[22] During his first tenure, nine major flyovers and 49 bridges were constructed at the cost of ₹0.95 billion (US$11million).[23] He also worked on improving the standard of corporation run schools to be on par with private schools.[24][25] Parks and fountains were set up at 18 major junctions, 81 parks were renovated, and saplings were planted at the Marina beach.[26] His efforts in improving city infrastructure earned him the title of Managara Thanthai (father of the city).[27]
Stalin was re-elected Mayor for the second time in 2001.[28] However, the then chief minister J. Jayalalithaa enacted the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, in 2002, which prevented a person from holding two elected posts in the government.[25] As Stalin was an elected member of the legislative assembly, this law was widely seen as aimed at removing him as Chennai's mayor.[29] While the Madras High Court later struck down the law, it held that as per the City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, a person cannot be mayor for two consecutive terms, though unlike Stalin, earlier mayors were not directly elected.[27] As a result, Stalin resigned from the post.[30]
Minister and deputy chief minister
In the 2006 assembly elections, the DMK regained control of the state assembly. Stalin became the minister for rural development and local administration in the Government of Tamil Nadu and retained this office throughout his term. During his tenure, he expanded the women self-help groups across the state by establishing 1,75,493 newer ones. He also established various comprehensive drinking water projects such as Hogenakkal and Ramanathapuram water schemes.[12][25] In 2008, he became treasurer of DMK.[10]
On 29 May 2009, Stalin was appointed as the deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu by governorSurjit Singh Barnala.[31] He was first Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.[32][33] During his tenure, the government of Tamil Nadu on 23 February 2011 received the special award for the best state among the largest states in India and the diamond state award for best state in three categories of civil safety, drinking sater and Sanitation and women's development.[34] The state also won the most number of Nirmal Gram Awards for its exceptional role in maintaining sanitation in the villages in the state during his tenure as the minister of rural development.[35]
Opposition leader and DMK president
In 2013, Karunanidhi announced Stalin as his successor to head the DMK, and confirmed it later in 2016.[36][37] Ahead of the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Stalin went on a statewide tour titled Namakku Naame. He won from the Kolathur constituency and was appointed as the opposition leader in the state legislative assembly.[38] In 2017, Stalin went on another Namakku Naame tour.[39] He was appointed as the working president in January 2017 when his father's health started declining. In 2018, his father Karunanidhi died, and Stalin became the president of the DMK.[12]
Stalin formed the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu and led the alliance in 2019 general election in the state.[40][41] The Secular Progressive Alliance won 39 out of 40 Parliament seats, and 12 out of 21 in the assembly by-elections in the first victory for the party since taking charge as DMK President.[42][43]
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Stalin led the campaign for the Secular Progressive Alliance. It won 159 seats out of the 234, with the DMK itself winning an absolute majority with 133 seats.[44] He took oath as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on 7 May 2021 along with the rest of his cabinet.[45][46]
Stalin assumed office during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and established a war room to monitor the status of beds, ambulances, and oxygen supply to address the situation.[47] He visited the COVID-19 patients in the Government ESI Medical College Hospital against expert advice.[48] He established a new economic advisory council which included economists Esther Duflo, Raghuram Rajan, Jean Drèze, Arvind Subramanian, and former Finance Secretary S Narayan.[49] Tamil Nadu had the highest coronavirus vaccine wastage under the previous government, but the state made it to the top in the list of states with lowest COVID-19 vaccine wastage during Stalin's tenure.[50]
Stalin handed over appointment orders of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to trained aspirants of all castes as temple priests in August 2021.[51] He 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.[52] In August 2021, he was ranked first among all chief ministers of India in the "Mood of the Nation" survey done by India Today.[53] In September 2021, he changed the name of refugee camps of Sri Lankan Tamils to rehabilitation camps and said "They are not orphans, we are there for them".[54] In September 2021, he announced that Periyar's birth anniversary will be celebrated as social justice day annually.[55]
Stalin contested the 1984 assembly polls unsuccessfully from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly for the first time from the same constituency in 1989.[64] In 1991, he contested for the third time from the same Assembly constituency, but lost to K. A. Krishnaswamy of the AIADMK. He was elected to the assembly consecutively for six times since 1996.[citation needed]
Stalin has been described as evolving from party functionary to pragmatic leader, with political observers noting public recognition of his administrative skills and his stands against sycophancy.[citation needed] He was commended by domain experts[who?] and other ministers across the country for not using public money to enhance his popularity among the masses.[65]
On 2 September 2021, actor and politican 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. Media houses in Kerala lauded Stalin on his policies and efforts in controlling the spread of COVID-19 during the second wave, provision of free bus pass for women and ₹4,000 as a pandemic relief for ration card holders.[66]
Awards and accolades
Anna University conferred an honorary doctorate for his contributions to governance and community development on 1 August 2009.[67][68][69][70] The Kentucky Colonel Award, the highest award given by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the United States, was given to Stalin for his public service.[71] He was also honoured as Kentucky's goodwill ambassador.[72]
↑ R Kannan (28 June 2017). MGR: A Life. Random House Publishers India Pvt. Limited. pp.207–. ISBN978-93-86495-88-4. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
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