Udhayanidhi Stalin
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Sep 4, 2023: The Indian Express
He is the face of the DMK’s future and now finds himself in the middle of a controversy over comments on “Sanatan Dharma”. Udhayanidhi Stalin, Tamil Nadu’s Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs and the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, has been accused by BJP of calling for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma, the teachings of Hinduism, and equating it with diseases like “dengue, malaria and Covid-19,” at a press conference in Chennai on Saturday. But Udhayanidhi denied he called for any “genocide”, as alleged by BJP leader Amit Malviya, and stood by his claim that Sanatan Dharma “divides people in the name of caste and religion” and needed to be “uprooted”.
“Let me reiterate the crucial aspect of my speech: I believe, like the spread of diseases like COVID-19, Dengue, and Malaria by mosquitoes, that Sanatan Dharma is responsible for many social evils,” he wrote.
Udhayanidhi is a well-known Tamil film actor and producer, and joined active politics ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he was appointed a secretary of the DMK’s youth wing. The 45-year-old contested his first election in 2021 from Chennai’s Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency, which is one of the DMK’s safest Assembly seats. A year later, he joined the state Cabinet.
At the time, many in the party were not surprised by his elevation. A senior leader recalled Udhayanidhi’s campaign tours during the 2019 general elections, when he “travelled the state with just a ‘single brick’ (brandishing it as proof of the unfinished work on AIIMS-Madurai, under the AIADMK-BJP government)”. The DMK won 24 of Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats with a 32.8% vote share.
Udhayanidhi and ‘Maamannan’
Now, Udhayanidhi is also a star attraction of the DMK’s social media handles, which often feature visuals of the Karunanidhi family scion visiting slums in his constituency, particularly during the rainy and flood-prone seasons. In June, a movie starring Udhayanidhi became the talking point as it tackled the question of caste and its place in Dravidian politics. Produced by Red Giant, a production house linked to the DMK’s first family, Maamannan was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Mari Selvaraj. It shed light on the caste prejudices within Dravidian parties, particularly in the Kongu region of western Tamil Nadu.
While the DMK is not the first party to become a family dominion, a Cabinet featuring both a father and son is still relatively rare. Its detractors have questioned the continued hold of one family in a party born out of a social justice movement and that swears by its ideological moorings in the Dravidian movement.
M Karunanidhi, who took over the reins of the DMK from founder C N Annadurai, over the years accommodated both his sons Stalin and M K Alagiri, as well as daughter Kanimozhi, in prominent party ranks. However, in what was considered a fig leaf, Karunanidhi made Stalin sweat it out for a long time in the background and he got his first Cabinet post only when he was in his late 50s.
But, given Stalin’s complete hold over the party, voices dissenting against Udhayanidhi have largely been faint. “When Stalin was appointed to the Karunanidhi Cabinet in the 2006-2011 government, there were objections over him being chosen over other deserving leaders. While Udhayanidhi might face similar charges now, it was this appointment that paved the way for Stalin to emerge as CM,” a DMK leader argued back when Udhayanidhi prepared to take up his ministerial position. Udhayanidhi had previously turned down a ministerial post in 2021 citing film commitments.
In his private life, Udhayanidhi is known to be not too politically ambitious and for his proximity to his mother Durga. The latter is believed to have pushed his case aggressively to ensure that the post-Stalin succession process is a smooth one unlike her husband’s who had to face off against his brother.
Udhayanidhi’s Red Giant Movies is considered to have the last word in the Tamil film industry now. Even when the DMK was in power from 2006 to 2011, it faced accusations of attempting to monopolise the film industry, with control over production, distribution, exhibition and sale of film rights. Udhayanidhi’s wife Kiruthiga has interests in fashion, publication and film and documentary production. A web series written and directed by her, Paper Rocket, was released last year.
