DMK leader Stalin 2.0 rides in, on a scooter, in trousers and sports shoes

The DMK leader had earlier gone in for a reinvention more than a year back, with professionals devising a campaign to project Stalin as the heir apparent of Karunanidhi. However, the DMK chief had pulled the plug on that within days, apparently not too comfortable about Stalin’s projection of himself.

The succession battle in the DMK is open and bitter, with Stalin and elder brother M K Alagiri, 64, both seeking their father’s political legacy.

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On September 19, Stalin set off on a state-wide road show, that is ending this week after covering all districts. Tamil Nadu has got a glimpse of the new Stalin during this tour, whether it is the 62-year-old briskly covering villages on foot, hanging out of an autorickshaw and waving (Nagercoil), taking babies of poor supporters into his laps and kissing them, shaking hands with bus drivers, riding a bicycle into a village and listening to people’s problems (Usilampatti in Madurai district), or dropping in for a chat and a meal with roadside vendors or at tea-shops. The most lasting image involved Stalin driving a scooter with a red helmet strapped on, his partymen following at a respectful distance, in Ambasamudram, near Tirunelveli.

Wary about how the succession tussle in the DMK will play out, partymen are keeping a safe distance from the travelling Stalin. Leaders in districts admit they have been instructed by the party headquarters to avoid bursting crackers and putting up flex boards during his trip, to not have any overt displays of affection, and to keep a “safe distance”. Stalin has also kept his meetings free of other party leaders, and of DMK flags, signs etc.

More than any remarks on policy, kept to a minimum, it’s Stalin’s clothes that are generating the maximum buzz. In the last 10 days, the DMK leader, earlier seen only in the white shirt and veshti of Tamil leaders, has been turning up in colourful shirts and T-shirts, trousers, jeans, even track pants, black shades and sports shoes. Often he changes clothes between events.

On the 10th day of his tour on Tuesday, Stalin had another surprise for his party. He visited Tirukotiyur Narayana temple at Thiruppathur in Sivaganga district. Since the DMK swears by atheism, Stalin explained that he came to the temple only to see the inscriptions of Vaishnava saint Ramanujar on its walls. He said he was a fan of the Tamil TV series on Ramanujar, written by Karunanidhi and telecast on party mouthpiece Kalaignar TV. “I was intrigued by the series on the revolutionary saint and so came here,” Stalin said.

Last year, Stalin had been left red-faced after a tweet from his handle on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi. The party had later issued a rejoinder blaming “enthusiastic website operators” for the greeting issued on Stalin’s behalf.

“I have no clue what is happening,” says a senior leader in the Stalin camp on his road show. Noting that he was travelling without party leaders, he adds, “Either Stalin is ditching local leaders who have actually worked at the grass-roots level or something has seriously happened to him.”

A leader wonders if Stalin is “facing an identity crisis”. Another is even less charitable. “He may be trying to appeal to youth. But unless we have something new to offer, no youth will get attracted, be it the trousers, sports shoes or other such gimmicks. The youth are all facing huge problems, they are unemployed. Unless we give them solid solutions, there is no difference between the DMK and AIADMK for them.”

The leader also questions the absence of party flags at Stalin’s programmes. “I do not know why he is projecting only himself, not talking politics but only running around and collecting petitions.”

A 35-year-old DMK volunteer accompanying Stalin thinks he has the answer. Talking about his session with villagers under a banyan tree at Usilampatti, he laughs, “Stalin was trying a Kejriwal.”