Opinion | Tamil Nadu after Karunanidhi

G Babu Jayakumar

'Rise and come, oh leader' (Ezhulundu Va, Thalaiva) was the thunderous chant that resonated through nights and days outside the Chennai hospital where Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi was battling for his life for more than 10 days before passing away on August 7.

Karunanidhi was 94-years-old and confined to his home at Gopalapuram in Chennai for one-and-a-half years after he withdrew from active politics and was physically inactive. Yet, for his supporters -- not just the emotionally-charged ones keeping vigil on the roads and raising slogans, but also for the others -- the time has not yet come for him to go. He was no ordinary political stalwart; he was not just leading his party for half a century but carrying forward a political legacy that changed the social dynamics of Tamil Nadu.

The question many will be asking in the days ahead is: What's in store for Tamil Nadu after Karunanidhi?

With Karunanidhi’s demise, not only has Tamil identity politics lost its last towering leader, but India has lost a senior leader who commanded the respect of coalition partners. Many also ask what would be the fate of his party — or of the state he leaves behind.

One of the last titans of the Dravidian movement, Karunanidhi captured the imagination of a multitude of supporters around the world, not merely as an able administrator, sagacious politician, erudite scholar, film script writer, eloquent speaker and journalist, but as the leader around whom Tamil identity politics revolved.

There is no one around to fill the vacuum he has left behind as the leader of the Tamil people. During his time, people rallied around him to fight for collective causes like protecting Tamil culture and language. He will be missed on that front.

Outside the realm of Tamil identity politics, too, Karunanidhi would be missed by the political parties trying to cobble together an anti-Hindutva coalition. In 2004, when such a need arose, it was Karunanidhi who helped the formation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which captured power and was in power for two full terms.

Since Karunanidhi had the uncanny knack of bringing together like-minded national and regional opposition parties to form alliances that offer alternatives to unpopular regimes, India would be short of a towering leader when the bugle is blown for the 2019 general election.

As far as the DMK is concerned, the succession of leadership should face no hurdles because MK Stalin has become the undisputed working president of the party already, and has been running the party independently ever since Karunanidhi retreated from active politics. The lone opposition to Stalin's leadership was voiced by MK Alagiri, Karunanidhi's elder son. Alagiri has been purged from the DMK and now that chapter is a thing of the past.

But there are challenges Stalin will have to face. One of them will be to garner the support of people outside the DMK who admired Karunanidhi for his extraordinary abilities and voted for him over the years.

The political situation in Tamil Nadu is such that the demise of J Jayalalithaa in December 2016 had left many of her erstwhile supporters looking for alternatives, particularly after the inheritors of her mantle were found to be floundering in governance. Had Karunanidhi had been around during the next elections, there would have been the possibility of him wooing those voters with aplomb.

In fact, the 2019 general elections will be the first time Tamil Nadu will go to polls without a tall leader. This could leave some voters in a fix because, politics in Tamil Nadu has always been personality-oriented.

So the question arises whether the emerging alternatives like the BJP, the new parties being floated by Tamil film actors like Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth and many other contenders will be able to harness the votes.

Going by present indications, a massive electoral swing against the DMK is unlikely. Even if Stalin might not be able to fit into the shoes of his late father immediately, the sudden surge of interest in Dravidian history among the younger generation has the potential to swing many new voters towards him.

In his last fortnight, when a frenzied media kept its fingers crossed outside the hospital in Chennai, Karunanidhi impelled every newspaper, magazine and television channel to run features about his early political life, thus reviving memories of a glorious past. It made the younger generation of Tamils emotionally connect with the nonagenarian leader for his sacrifices and struggles and change their opinions formed on the basis of his recent alleged shenanigans.

The repeated false alarms about his health triggered the spate of special media features on his contributions towards transforming Tamil society.

That could help the DMK electorally.

(G Babu Jayakumar is a senior Chennai-based journalist. The views expressed by him in this article are personal)