In a ‘wave-less’ election, Stalin aims to whip up a tide

He carried the burden of DMK’s campaign on his shoulders for the 2011 assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha elections and was among those who earned the displeasure of sections within the party for the defeats that followed. But, this assembly election, party treasurer M K Stalin, the unanointed prince of Dravidian politics, is the emerging new face of DMK. Self-assured and supported by a team of techies crafting his image on social media, Stalin has left old fashioned oratory to his father and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi , while adopting a more casual and interactive style.What’s significant is the fact that the 63-year-old leader seems to be finally emerging from his father’s shadow, taking on AIADMK with more confidence and elan.
Last week, he was seen enacting the fawning demeanor of AIADMK partymen towards their leader. On Tuesday, he sang a song to mock the CM’s assurances of phased prohibition at a street-side meeting in Tiruneveli district. His response to allegations by rivals, particularly Jayalalithaa, is almost instant. While he acknowledges that ‘kalaignar’ is the CM candidate, Stalin has built a case for himself for a quiet ‘takeover’.
While at Theni, the hotbed of Mullaperiyar dam agitations, he defended the DMK’s legal efforts on the issue; at Dindigul where power minister Natham Viswanathan is facing rebellion from his own partymen, Stalin flayed the state’s power policy and “steep” hike in tariff. Says UN official and recently-appointed DMK spokesman R Kannan, “Stalin’s speeches have more content and are less rhetorical, less flowery and more communicative. They transcend generations and cut across audience divide to reach out to all. He exudes a sense of accessibility, a bridge between old and young and tradition and modernity”.
Stalin made a point of targeting Jayalalithaa for alleged inaccessibility in the hosiery city of Tirupur, a gounder belt perceived to be favourable to AIADMK. “In the last eight months, I have visited you four times. Five years after the election, has the chief minister visited you even once?”
With three weeks to go, this election may well hinge on whether the DMK heir apparent is able to swing the vote with persuasiveness.