M. K. Stalin

Muthuvel Karunanidhi StalinTemplate:Efn (born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician who, since 2021, is serving as the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. His tenure as president of the political party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) began on 28 August 2018 and he served as the party's working president of party from January 2017 to August 2018.

Stalin, who was born in 1953, is the third son of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi and completed his education at Presidency College in Chennai in 1973. He is married to Durga, and their son Udhayanidhi is the state's current deputy chief minister.

Stalin began his political career in the late 1960s and he was elected to DMK's general committee in 1973. He was jailed during the Emergency in 1976. He became the secretary of the party's youth wing in 1982, a post 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, and he served as the state's first deputy chief minister from 2009 to 2011.

In 2009, Anna University conferred upon Stalin an honorary doctorate. In 2022, The Indian Express named Stalin India's 24th-most-powerful personality.

Early and personal life

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was born in Chennai on 1 March 1953 as the third son of M. Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and Dayalu Ammal. He was named after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="theweek.in">Template:Cite web</ref> Stalin was educated at Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He completed a pre-university course at Vivekananda College and obtained a degree in history from Presidency College in 1973.<ref name="Result">Template:Cite web</ref>

Stalin married Durga (alias Shantha) on 20 August 1975. They have two children.<ref name="Result"/> Their son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, is an actor and politician who since 2024 is deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Their daughter Senthamarai is an entrepreneur and education professional.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stalin is an Atheist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political career

Early career

Stalin began his political career in his early teens when he, with some friends, founded the youth wing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Gopalapuram.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> At 14 years old, he campaigned for his uncle, Murasoli Maran, in the 1967 Madras State Legislative Assembly election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1973, he was elected to the general committee of the DMK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1976, Stalin was jailed in Madras Central Prison under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act for protesting against the the Emergency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Padalkar2021">Template:Cite book</ref> Whilst in police custody, he endured torture that which resulted in the death of his fellow prisoner C. Chittibabu.<ref name="Venkatachalapathy2019">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Kannan2017">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He wrote his final-year college exams whilst in prison.<ref name="theweek.in"/>

Youth wing and MLA

Stalin established the youth wing of the DMK in 1980 and became its secretary in 1982, a post he held for more than four decades.<ref name="theweek.in"/> During the 1980s, he travelled across Tamil Nadu to encourage and mentor youth to join active politics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1989, he was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Thousand Lights Assembly constituency, and represented the constituency five times.<ref name="theweek.in"/> In 2003, he became Deputy General Secretary of the DMK.<ref name=":0" />

Mayor of Chennai

Stalin became the Mayor of Chennai in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As mayor, he initiated the Singara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai) project to improve the city's infrastructure.<ref name="theweek.in"/> He modernised the garbage disposal system by giving priority to cleaning works, and implemented development projects in areas such as health, public construction and schools. He built flyovers to address traffic congestion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During his first tenure, nine major flyovers and 49 bridges were constructed at a cost of Template:INRconvert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also worked on improving the standard of corporation-run schools to be on par with private schools.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2" /> Parks and fountains were set up at 18 major junctions, 81 parks were renovated, and saplings were planted at Marina Beach.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His efforts in improving city infrastructure earned him the title of Managara Thanthai (father of the city).<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>

Stalin was re-elected Mayor for the second time in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2002, the chief minister J. Jayalalithaa enacted the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, which prevented a person from holding two elected posts in the government.<ref name=":2" /> Because Stalin was an elected member of the legislative assembly, this law was widely seen as an attempt to remove him as Chennai's mayor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Madras High Court later struck down the law but held 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.<ref name=":4" /> As a result, Stalin resigned from the post.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Minister and deputy chief minister

The DMK regained control of the state assembly in the 2006 assembly elections. 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 women's self-help groups across the state by establishing 175,493 new ones. He also established drinking water projects such as the Hogenakkal and Ramanathapuram water schemes.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2008, he became the DMK's treasurer.<ref name=":0" />

On 29 May 2009, the Governor of Tamil Nadu Surjit Singh Barnala appointed Stalin the state's deputy chief minister.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"Karunanidhi makes Stalin Deputy Chief Minister Template:Webarchive". The Hindu.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During his tenure, on 23 February 2011, the Government of Tamil Nadu received a special award for the best state among the largest states in India, and the diamond state award for best state in civil safety, drinking water and sanitation, and women's development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The state also won the most number of Nirmal Gram Awards for its exceptional role in maintaining sanitation in villages during Stalin's tenure as the minister of rural development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Opposition leader and DMK president

In 2013, Karunanidhi announced Stalin as his successor to head the DMK and confirmed it in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ahead of the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Stalin went on a statewide tour titled Namakku Naame. He won the Kolathur constituency and was appointed opposition leader in the state legislative assembly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2017, Stalin went on another Namakku Naame tour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was appointed as working president in January 2017 when the health of his father, Karunanidhi, started declining. In 2018, Karunanidhi died and Stalin became president of the DMK.<ref name=":1" />

Stalin formed the Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu and led the alliance in the state in the 2019 Indian general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Secular Progressive Alliance won 39 out of 40 Parliament seats, and 12 out of 21 in the assembly by-elections, in the party's first victory since Stalin took charge as the DMK's president.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Stalin led the campaign for the Secular Progressive Alliance in the 2021 Assembly elections; it won 159 seats out of the 234, with the DMK winning 133 seats, an absolute majority.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on 7 May 2021, along with the rest of his cabinet.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He visited the COVID-19 patients in the Government ESI Medical College Hospital against expert advice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tamil Nadu had the highest coronavirus vaccine wastage under the previous government, but the lowest COVID-19 vaccine wastage during Stalin's tenure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 2 September 2021, actor and politician Chiranjeevi met with Stalin to commend him on governance efficacy; Chiranjeev said Stalin had proved his mettle in handling the pandemic. Media in Kerala lauded Stalin on his policies and efforts in controlling the spread of COVID-19 during the second wave, provision of free bus passes for women and ₹4,000 as a pandemic relief for ration card holders.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Stalin established a new economic advisory council that included economists Esther Duflo, Raghuram Rajan, Jean Drèze, Arvind Subramanian, and former Finance Secretary S Narayan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stalin handed appointment orders of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to trained aspirants of all castes as temple priests in August 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In an official release, Stalin quoted the reformist leader Thanthai Periyar, saying Periyar fought for equal rights in worship for all believers in God.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2021, he announced Periyar's birthday would be celebrated annually as a social justice day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2021, Stalin announced the state law ministry would review legal cases filed by the previous government. In September 2021, his government withdrew over 5,570 legal cases filed by the previous government in the past ten years against journalists and protesters against the the three farm laws promulgated by the union government in 2020, the Citizenship Amendment Act, methane extraction, a neutrino project, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the Chennai-Salem expressway project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In September 2021, the Madras High Court commended Stalin for utilising school bags with the photos of previous chief ministers, and not reprinting them.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2021, he unveiled a real-time dashboard, which provided relevant information from all the government departments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In May 2022, he welcomed the release of A. G. Perarivalan, who was convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Stalin served as a member of the business advisory committee and committee on rules in the 16th Tamil Nadu assembly.<ref name="TN Committee 2021-2022">Template:Cite web</ref>

Electoral performance

Stalin unsuccessfully contested the 1984 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, standing for the Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai,<ref name="Result"/> to which he was first elected in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1991, he contested the same seat for the third time and lost. He had been elected to the assembly consecutively six times since 1996.<ref name="Result"/>

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

Year	Constituency	Party		Votes	%	Opponent	Party		Opponent Votes	%	Result	Margin	%
2021	Kolathur	Template:Party name with color	1,05,522	60.86	Aadi Rajaram	Template:Party name with color	35,138	20.27	Template:Yes2	70,384	40.59
2016		91,303	54.25	J. C. D. Prabhakar	53,573	31.83	Template:Yes2	37,730	22.42
2011		68,677	48.35	Saidai Duraisamy	65,943	46.43	Template:Yes2	2,734	1.92
2006	Thousand Lights	49,817	46.00	Aadi Rajaram	47,349	43.72	Template:Yes2	2,468	2.28
2001		49,056	51.41	S. Sekar	Template:Party name with color	41,782	43.78	Template:Yes2	7,274	7.63
1996		66,905	69.72	Zeenath Sheriffdeen	Template:Party name with color	22,028	22.05	Template:Yes2	44,877	47.67
1991		38,445	39.19	K. A. Krishnaswamy	55,426	56.50	Template:No2	-16,981	-17.31
1989		50,818	50.59	Thambidurai	30,184	30.05	Template:Yes2	20,634	20.54
1984		43,954	47.86	K. A. Krishnaswamy	46,246	50.36	Template:No2	-2,292	-2.50

Public image and perception

In August 2021, Stalin was ranked first among chief ministers of India in the India Today "Mood of the Nation" survey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Indian Express named Stalin as India's 24th-most-powerful personality in 2022,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 23rd in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Awards and accolades

On 1 August 2009, Anna University conferred upon Stalin an honorary doctorate for his contributions to governance and community development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was also honoured as Kentucky's goodwill ambassador.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• M. K. Stalin ministry
• Chief ministership of M. K. Stalin

External links

• Tamil Nadu Assembly Profile