Is M K Stalin eyeing a national role?

Is Stalin positioning himself as a central figure in the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party, anti-Narendra Modi formation?

Does Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam working president M K Stalin have national ambitions?

Why else will he be in constant touch with top Opposition leaders in almost all political parties, that too from the Hindi heartland? For instance, he often talks on the phone with Akhilesh Yadav, Omar Abdullah, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s sons, even Mayawati’s brother.

Then, there is the grand rally of senior national Opposition leaders he has organised
in Chennai on June 3 to mark his father, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi’s 94 birthday.

Which leads to the question: Is Stalin positioning himself as a central figure in the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party, anti-Narendra Modi formation?

That Stalin has decided to go against Modi and BJP is a fact. That it will lead to a consolidation of 15-20 percent of minority Muslim and Christian votes in Tamil Nadu is besides the point.

Insiders in the DMK who are feeling neglected by Stalin speculate that it was on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s advice that he decided to align himself with the anti-BJP forces at the national level.

What this new stance has meant is a toning down in Stalin’s anti-Hindi statements.

Behind Stalin’s decision to cosy up to North Indian leaders, insiders say, is also the family squabbles in the DMK’s first family. With siblings MK Alagiri and Kanimozhi  and stepmother Rajathi Ammal turning a little assertive internally, Stalin, it is said, is keeping all options open.

In the time that he has been working president of the DMK, when his son-in-law Sabareesan has taken control of the party, Stalin has brought about major changes, rather on the lines of Rahul Gandhi, be it a change in attire from white veshti and shirt to jeans and T-shirt, or the manner of addressing students while walking about the stage. 

For Rahul Gandhi, his courtship of Stalin in Tamil Nadu goes with his plan to encourage younger leaders from other non-BJP outfits, like Akhilesh Yadav in the Samajwadi Party. 

Interestingly, till recently, it was believed that Rahul Gandhi will come closer to the rival AIADMK, for he was the first national leader to visit former chief minister Jayalalithaa when she was in hospital. He also attended her funeral. In fact, the Tamil Nadu Congress chief, S Thirunavukkarasu, is said to be close V K Sasikala, Jaya’s aide.

But the interesting angle in this Rahul-Stalin friendship is Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, whose discomfiture over the DMK goes back to the fact it was in power in the state when her father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in May 1991.

Priyanka Gandhi even visited the Vellore jail to meet the killers of Rajiv Gandhi who are lodged there. She and Rahul Gandhi had attended the public hearing by the Justice M C Jain commission of inquiry which went into the conspiracy angle behind Rajiv’s killing.

The DMK was part of the United Progressive Alliance government but it was not a decision that was universally welcome in the Congress party. 

As much as Rahul Gandhi may desire close ties, till the time such misgivings are resolved, there cannot be total political synergy with Stalin. Any amount of Modi bashing by them will not bring about a comprehensive, cohesive alliance between the DMK and Congress.

On another level, can Stalin tolerate the Hindi speakers’ domination of this emerging anti-Modi spectrum, and what role will he play in national politics except to be a lightning rod for anti-Modi forces, are things that remain to be seen.

IMAGE: A file photograph of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and DMK working president M K Stalin campaigning in Madurai during last year's Tamil Nadu assembly election. Photograph: PTI Photo.

R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist in New Delhi who has been reporting on Tamil Nadu affairs for decades.