- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
SALUTING political leaders in public is not common in India’s southern states. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, the treatment that late chief minister J Jayalalithaa received from her partymen has remained iconic in public memory. But the incumbent chief minister of the state has decided to curb the culture by asking his party colleagues not to praise him in public.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, who was named by his father M Karunanidhi, one of the state’s towering politicians, after Russian dictator Joseph Stalin (he was born a few days before Stalin’s death), on Saturday (28) reacted angrily in the state legislative assembly after a member of his party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) started praising his work.
“I have already instructed DMK members to not praise me, and that I will take action against them if they do,” the 68-year-old told his party. “The members should use the allocated time judiciously.”
The chief minister’s words left his party lawmakers flummoxed, particularly in a state where politicians’ overwhelming cult personality often steals the limelight. Apart from Jayalalithaa, her mentor and another former chief minister MG Ramachandran, a cine star-turned-politician, was also a personality widely worshipped.
Leaders in the southern Indian states generally have huge plywood cut-outs placed all over the state. There have been stories where supporters have cut off their fingers and tongues or nailed themselves to crosses or walked on burning coals to demonstrate their commitment to leaders. Even when a leader has fallen ill or met an accident, followers have been found to have committed suicide.
According to political experts, Stalin is trying to turn the tide, which his opponent party AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) popularised.
“He has seen the excesses of unsophisticated hero worship of Jayalalithaa,” Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr, an author and political analyst, told The Times, UK. “He is a new generation. He knows that crude ways of praising a leader do not help.”
The incumbent chief minister has also been found to be taking a more moderate stance in reaching out to his rivals, unlike in the times of the fierce rivalry between Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
