DMK Faces Generational Shift Post-Election

TVK founder C Joseph Vijay’s victory in the recent TN assembly election winning 108 seats and forming the govt with support from DMK allies seems to have made DMK realize that its challenges are not primarily organisational or ideological, but generational. And the alliance reconfiguration has at least some of its leaders thinking about “an arrangement” with BJP.

The story of 23-year-old software professional S P Uthiramuthu captures the generational shift. An ardent Vijay admirer, he nevertheless voted for DMK after weighing the party’s governance record. He says he saw his family, whose loyalties lay with several parties, benefit during the last five years. Uthiramuthu was a participant at the GenZ DMK conference on May 30.

For DMK, such voters present both reassurance and a warning: that governance matters, but the govt needs to strike an emotional chord with young voters and acknowledge the influence of social media in shaping social narratives and making political choices. For years, DMK treated young voters as part of its larger support base, not as a separate political constituency.

The rise of TVK exposed that gap, highlighting Gen Z’s growing preference for identity, aspiration and personality-driven politics. In more than five decades of Tamil Nadu’s political binary, DMK had calibrated its strategy to counter AIADMK led by M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. But TVK’s dramatic emergence has disrupted this binary, and DMK president M K Stalin should rewrite his political strategy and vocabulary.

After DMK’s tally came down from 133 in 2021 to 59 this time, Stalin launched an exercise to study the fault lines. “When I take pride in victory, I should take responsibility for defeat as well,” he said, encouraging the rank and file to give their honest criticism. “We will first investigate the causes for defeat and then meet office-bearers at all levels,” said DMK senior spokesman T K S Elangovan.

The party has assigned each of mandala heads three to four constituencies to lisgten to cadres. Party leaders said they have so far got feedback from 4.5 lakh cadres. Internal consultations are expected to culminate in organisational reforms, including appointment of additional district secretaries. DMK is likely to increase the number of its party districts from 70 to 115 to improve grassroots management.

Some DMK leaders feel Stalin ignoring Vijay who attacked the DMK and the govt was poor tactics. “It was a strategic failure that we never mentioned Vijay’s name. We should have attacked Vijay for the Karur stampede,” said a functionary.

“Organisational restructuring and showing youth the way to leadership is important,” said DMK Rajya Sabha MP and spokesman J Constandine Ravindran. “We should re-energize the youth wing and give them important posts. There should be greater political empowerment of women within the party.”

Former DMK MLA I Paranthamen, who had blamed former minister P K Sekarbabu for the party’s poor show in Chennai, said younger cadres must be given bigger responsibilities. Ravindran and Paranthamen oversee 13 constituencies across Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur and Katpadi districts to assess what went wrong and recommend corrective measures. Feedback from cadres included removing rigid hierarchy and keeping district-level units active between elections rather than only during campaigns.

A problem, as several functionaries admitted, is that people who appreciated the Stalin govt for its administration and welfare measures did not identify with the slogan of ‘Dravidian model’. Also worrying the party is the anti-incumbency against local leaders.

DMK’s immediate test lies in the byelections (for Trichy East vacated by Vijay and four others by AIADMK MLAs who resigned), followed by local body elections. The larger challenge will be the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, especially after its allies such as Congress, VCK and IUML joined the Vijay govt, which enjoys the support of DMK allies CPI and CPM.

With such reconfiguration, some poll strategists associated with DMK said the party may have to consider a “tactical outreach” to BJP. A senior DMK leader said growing dissatisfaction with Congress leadership among some INDIA bloc allies could pave the way for a new political alignment – if not now, after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. “If DMK gets anywhere between 10 and 20 seats and if BJP falls short of a majority, a post-poll arrangement cannot be ruled out,” the leader said.

As DMK works on recalibration, leadership succession may have to wait.