Chennai, Mar 1 (BPNS)
When Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (M.K.Stalin) is celebrating his 70th birthday as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, he has come up into a political carrier through a hard way.
Even as he is the son of the towering DMK leader, M. Karunanidhi, Stalin had to go through the grind and grill to reach the top of Tamil Nadu politics and assume office as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Stalin born on March 1, 1953 was named so as Karunanidhi was an ardent fan of Russian leader ,Joseph Stalin and he named his son after Joseph Stalin. Stalin was initiated into the nitty gritty of politics after he campaigned for the election of his uncle Murosali Maran in 1967 at the age of 14.
In 1968, Stalin formed the DMK Gopalapuram Youth Wing with his neighbourhood friends at the age of 15.
Stalin was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) in 1976 and lodged in Chennai central prison at a young age of 23 years. The arrest and jail term was for protesting against Emergency Indira Gandhi announced in the country. Stalin was beaten up in custody and another DMK prisoner, Chittibabu died while protecting him in the prison from beating.
He became the youth wing secretary of the DMK in 1982 and held on to the post for four decades in a row.
Stalin however had a bitter electoral outing losing his maiden assembly election at Thousand Lights to AIADMK but later won from the same seat in 1989. However in 1991 after the DMK government was dismissed and elections held, Stalin lost from Thousand Lights constituency.
From 1996 onwards Stalin won continuously from Thousand Lights seat till 2006. In the 2011 assembly elections, he shifted from Thousand Lights to Kolathur and is retaining the seat since then.
In 1996 Stalin was the first directly elected Mayor of Chennai Corporation and he created the project, ‘Singarai Chennai’ which was a major hit and the development of Chennai city advanced by leaps and bounds after this project.
He was nicknamaed as ‘Managara Thanthai’ ( Father of the City) for improving the infrastructure of the city. Stalin was instrumental in creating a modern Garbage disposal system for Chennai corporation during his tenure.
Stalin became a minister in 2006 in the government of his father, M. Karunanidhi and assumed office as the Minister for Rural Development and Local administration. He established the women self help groups in Tamil Nadu and created 1,75,493 Women SHGs.
He became the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 29th May 2009 and was the first Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
In the 2021 assembly elections DMK alliance, Secular Progressive Alliance wrested power winning 159 out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu. Stalin took his oath of office as Chief Minister on May 7,2021.
He constituted ‘Ungal Thoguthiyil Mudhalamaichar’ (Chief Minister in your constituency ) which is grievance redressal service. The Makkal Thedi Maruthuvam scheme launched by the Stalin government on 5 August ,2021 provides essential health services at the door steps of the people. He also formed the Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme on 19 October 2021. This is the country’s largest volunteer based education programme.
The Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme which he launched on 15 September 2022 is to cater to preventing hunger and nutritional deficiency in children.
The Chief Minister’s 70th birthday celebrations will be held at the YMCA ground in Nandanam, Chennai which senior national leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Farook Abdulla, Akhilesh Yadav, and Tejeswi Yadav will attend.
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