Filmmaker to Dy CM, Udhayanidhi's rise under shadow of anti-Sanatan remarks

Chennai: "I don't know whether I will win or lose...But I will fight sincerely till the very end," from Udhayanidhi Stalin's Tamil flick 'Manithan,' would help understand how he in politics too used such simple and effective messaging and the manner in which it contributed to jump start his political career path.

In the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in order to target the BJP-led Centre, Udhayanidhi came up with his "29 paisa" campaign.

He repeatedly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "29 paisa Modi" as the Centre returned only "29 paisa out of every one rupee paid as tax" to the Union government by the state and this helped the ruling DMK further strengthen its narrative against the BJP and its allies that the state suffered at the hands of the Saffron party-led dispensation.

On September 28, 2024 Udhayanidhi Stalin was elevated as Deputy Chief Minister.

Born on November 27, 1977, Udhayanidhi's real innings in his party began with his appointment as DMK youth wing secretary in July 2019 and under his leadership, the party reaffirmed its goal to inculcate the Dravidian spirit into the party cadres by organising ideology based workshops and interactions and the focus remained on using technology to reachout to more and more youths and increase party membership. Also, several other initiatives like the youth wing conference and a state-wide motorcycle rally enthused cadres and helped build his image further as a go-getter.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, he was hugely successful with his 'single brick' campaign to send across a message to people that the Madurai AIIMS project of the BJP-led Centre remained a non-starter though it was announced in the 2015-16 Union Budget. It was arguably the first time he outshone his colleagues in the party and several leaders vied with each other to praise him for his natural ability to connect with the people.

Last year, though Udhayanidhi's comments on Sanatan Dharma led to a nation-wide controversy, it in a way, helped the party to reiterate and convince its key political constituencies that his comments were a reflection of the party ideology to eradicate practices that went against the Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the women as well and that it had absolutely nothing to do with religion.

The party, rallying in his support, campaigned that national icons like Periyar EV Ramasamy, Dr BR Ambedkar and Naryana Guru had spoken against discrimination including those based on a person's birth. That the Sanatan Dharma controversy cut no electoral ice in Tamil Nadu was also seen as a success for Udhayanidhi.

Naturally, being the son of Chief Minister M K Stalin and grandson of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi brought its own unique advantages for Udhayanidhi's growth within the party. After he took over as Minister, he launched several initiatives to encourage sportspersons and improve sports infrastructure and distribution of Kalaignar sports kit was one among them.

After finishing his graduation from a city college, Udhayanidhi became well known as a film producer/distributor, over a decade ago, and later as an actor as well. Since 2016, he helms DMK's Tamil mouthpiece 'Murasoli' and since then he has been active in party work assigned to him.

In 2021, he won for the first time as an MLA from Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni Assembly constituency here and became the Sports and Youth Welfare Minister in December 2022. Also, in 2022, he was retained as youth wing chief and it helped him further demonstrate his organising skills and build his influence with leaders clamouring for his elevation at recent events to commemorate the 75 anniversary of DMK's founding.

His long expected elevation as Deputy Chief Minister is more or less only a formality as he had already been chairing high-level review meetings of the government. While it took over three decades of active party work for his father, MK Stalin to become Deputy CM in 2009, the journey of Udhayanidhi, who initially appeared to be not very keen on politics, is comparatively quick.

Like his success as a lawyer to win justice in his film 'Manthian' (Man/human being), DMK cadres are confident that he will go on to win more laurels, especially in the 2026 Assembly polls when top actor Vijay's Tamizha Vetri Kazhagam will for the first time face an electoral fight.