Udhayanidhi Stalin is in his standard white shirt — nothing remarkable about it except the trademark ‘Rising Sun’ symbol by the chest. Sleeves are rolled up haphazardly, his jeans are artfully faded and he dons them ultra-casually. He completes this attire with a comfortable-looking pair of slippers. Be it visiting a flood-hit alleyway in Chennai’s corners or a book launch or visiting his father, Chief Minister MK Stalin, at the hallowed government buildings in Fort St. George, Udhay prefers to be dressed like that — uniformly.
With only minor variations to this dress code, a witty attitude reminiscent of his grandfather — M Karunanidhi — and a supportive top order, Udhay has emerged as a powerful leader at the party that irrevocably changed the face, key proponents, and direction of politics in Tamil Nadu. Compared to his father, who spent three decades as the Youth Wing Chief and earned his stripes the long way, Udhay has taken a much shorter path to the inner circle of the DMK. A Third-Gen politician, Udhay is cut out as a politician quite differently from his ‘veshti’-wearing, Chaste-Tamil speaking, witty-and-astute grandfather Karunanidhi. A film producer with a keen interest in acting too – he received partial success in most films with some such as ‘Manithan’ (2016) and ‘Maamannan’ (2023) receiving critical acclaim — he dived quite seriously into the thick of everyday politics, governance and all the thick-webbed controversies since taking over as a minister late last year.
Since then, Udhay Stalin appears pushed into the deep end, sloshing around and only at times striking forward decisively. The DMK government has been scrambling on several issues – the dogged pursuit of its minister Senthil Balaji by the Enforcement Directorate, their investigation into sand mining in Tamil Nadu, and most recently, less-than-desired response to the floods. Politically, BJP state chief Annamalai has been relentless pursuer of the DMK top order including Chief Minister Stalin, and at times, it is Udhay Stalin responding or firefighting on these fronts.
For example, Udhay Stalin has been visiting flood-hit streets regularly, despite strong expression of angst from the people. Videos of a schoolteacher accosting Udhay while on his rounds across the city have gone viral — but he has not withdrawn from the frontline. Udhay continues to put himself out there and tries to communicate about government efforts and acknowledges areas where the DMK has fared quite badly.
Though Udhay has left no doubt internally of his leadership position at the DMK, he is still from some distance emerging as either a fully mature or pragmatic politician. His bold move to speak out against ‘Sanatan Dharma’ made him a national talking point – but whether it brought any helpful tides to the INDIA alliance is a matter of deep doubt. In Tamil Nadu, however, it’s the DMK’s home ground – a comfortable space they have returned to quite often. While the matter is being judicially fought out at the Madras High Court, questions have already flown about Udhay’s intent in launching the ‘Fight Against Sanatan’ campaign. As though to answer those questions, the DMK has conspicuously dropped such a high-decibel campaign.
Clearly, Udhay needs to assert his title inside the DMK and come out more strongly on issues he feels genuinely about while playing craftily in areas such as setting the national narrative — where senior politicians can play the guiding light.
As the national elections to Parliament emerge on the horizon, two things are clear — the BJP appears to be entering the fray from a position of strength (evidenced in the recent display in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh). The DMK appears on the back foot, especially in the reactions to floods and other politico-governance issues. Add to this equation the presence of a state BJP unit strident than ever seen in Tamil Nadu.
This leaves Udhay in a clearly adversarial position in politics. Nevertheless, he hails from a family that has risen ever so often from situations trickier than this one. Hence the question: Will Udhay discover his mojo and help the DMK turn the tables?
Only time will tell.
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