DMK president and Chief Minister M.Okay. Stalin on Sunday (April 5, 2026) dismissed the suggestion that the upcoming Tamil Nadu Meeting elections could be a “shut” multi-cornered contest.
In his first interview this election season, he instructed The Hindu, the four-way race would in the end favour the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance.
“The competition is basically between the DMK alliance and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance. Different events lack the organisational energy and infrastructure to problem us,” he instructed this correspondent amidst the electioneering in Virudhunagar.
Mr. Stalin expressed confidence that the DMK Authorities’s welfare schemes and its election manifesto have already earned widespread public appreciation. “Our manifesto, significantly, the Illatharasi scheme to distribute coupon for ₹8,000 to buy or exchange family home equipment has change into the tremendous star of the election. We are going to win the elections comfortably,” he famous.
To a query on why he was not responding to actor-turned-politician Vijay, who has been important of the DMK in his marketing campaign, Mr. Stalin stated he didn’t view anybody as a private adversary.
“Personally, I don’t think about anybody my enemy. I don’t need to divert my consideration from the vacation spot I intention to achieve,” he added.
Mr. Stalin argued it was towards democratic rules to give up State’s rights and regulate with the Centre. “It’s stunning that you just assume the BJP would do good to Tamil Nadu if we made such changes. It could not do any good; as a substitute, it might trigger extra hurt. It’s slavery,” he stated in his first interview of the election season with The Hindu, amidst the electioneering in in Virudhunagar. He contended that Tamil Nadu didn’t considerably profit in the course of the erstwhile rule of AIADMK authorities [headed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami], which made changes with the BJP authorities on the Centre.
You secured victory for the DMK-led alliance within the 2021 Meeting polls and the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. How do you assess the development this time within the wake of the entry of a brand new political social gathering [Actor C. Joseph Vijay’s TVK]?
We are going to repeat the same victory. The social gathering has persistently gained elections, together with the 2021 Meeting polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, after I assumed management following the demise of M. Karunanidhi. Each election witnesses the arrival and departure of political events. There may be nothing new on this. The DMK has noticed such traits over the previous 70 years.
The ‘Dravidian mannequin’ authorities of the DMK has applied schemes for all sections of society, reducing throughout social gathering traces. Each household within the State has straight benefited from these initiatives. The DMK stays a political motion dedicated to the folks of Tamil Nadu.
On the identical time, the folks of the State are conscious of how the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP), collectively, have betrayed the pursuits of Tamil Nadu. Folks have skilled how the Union Authorities did not allocate enough funds or lengthen ample help for aid work throughout floods attributable to heavy rains. By aligning with the BJP, the AIADMK has let down the folks of Tamil Nadu. That is the truth within the current election.
Folks will ship their verdict in our favour, weighing the DMK’s governance and welfare measures towards the AIADMK-BJP mix, which has acted towards the pursuits of Tamil Nadu.
You’ve got been important of the BJP — extra so than of some other social gathering, together with the Congress. Nevertheless, there’s a view that, politics apart, you would have adjusted with the BJP on the Centre, to safe what is because of Tamil Nadu. How do you reply?
It’s stunning to recommend that the BJP would do good to Tamil Nadu if we made such changes. It could not do any good; as a substitute, it might trigger extra hurt. The Union Authorities, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is intentionally appearing in a vindictive method in direction of the States dominated by non-BJP events. Mr. Modi, who is anticipated to operate because the Prime Minister of all States, has lowered himself to being the Prime Minister of BJP-ruled States.
The BJP’s ‘double-engine’ slogan — governance by the identical social gathering at each the State and the Centre — is deceptive. BJP-ruled States haven’t achieved vital development; they merely obtain larger monetary allocations. Even Union Authorities statistics present Tamil Nadu tops a number of development indicators. We’ve got demonstrated {that a} State can obtain progress with out help from the Centre, and regardless of the obstacles created by it.
The BJP has applied the Citizenship Modification Act towards minorities and enforced rules such because the International Contribution Regulation Act affecting Christian establishments. It’s making an attempt to impose Hindi at the price of regional languages, deny funds to non-BJP-ruled States, and run parallel administrations in States via Governors. The DMK is preventing to safeguard democracy, because the BJP authorities is appearing towards the basic rules of the Structure. This isn’t merely a dedication to Tamil Nadu, however to the nation as an entire.
Nevertheless, each time there’s a risk or aggression from neighbouring international locations, the DMK, as a part of the nation, has cooperated totally with the Centre. We think about that our responsibility.
It’s towards democratic rules to give up rights and regulate with the Centre; that will quantity to slavery. After the demise of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK functioned in that method for 4 years. Tamil Nadu didn’t obtain vital schemes or funds throughout that interval. As a substitute, the State bore the burden of insurance policies corresponding to Nationwide Eligibility cum Entrance Check and elevated electrical energy tariffs because of the UDAY scheme. The DMK won’t permit itself to be remotely managed.
For the primary time throughout this election marketing campaign, you responded to former Chief Minister Edappadi Okay. Palaniswami, who made private assaults towards you. What, in your view, prompted him to make such allegations?
Mr. Palaniswami is talking irresponsibly, foreseeing defeat within the election. The 91-year-old Kalaignar (late M Karunanidhi) spent 81 years in public life. He devoted himself to the Tamil language, social justice, and the rights of States. He documented his life transparently in Nenjukku Needhi. His closing days and medical therapy have been made public via detailed medical bulletins.
Kalaignar was my father, however he was additionally my chief, as he was to hundreds of thousands of followers. That place transcended all different relationships. When Mr. Palaniswami commented on him with out restraint, I couldn’t tolerate and stay silent — not solely as his son, but in addition as one among the many DMK cadre.
The DMK has by no means resorted to denigrating leaders on public platforms. Even when leaders corresponding to M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa, who opposed us politically, handed away, we’d not communicate sick of them. Nevertheless, Mr. Palaniswami made private remarks about Kalaignar’s closing days and about me, with none decency and qualms. This exhibits that the AIADMK, having misplaced public assist, has no substantive points to lift in the course of the marketing campaign. The concern of electoral defeat has gripped the social gathering. Mr. Palaniswami ought to train restraint over his tongue.
