Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
NAME- Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin
PROFESSION- Politician
BORN- 01/03/1953
PLACE OF BIRTH- Chennai
FATHER’S NAME- M. Karunanidhi
MOTHER’S NAME- Dayalu Ammal
SPOUSE- Durga Stalin
SIBLINGS- 4
CHILDREN- 2
EDUCATION-
Completed schooling from Madras Christian College Hiher Secondary School, Chennai
Completed pre-university from Vivekanand College.
Obtained a degree in history from Presidency College, University of Madras.
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS/PARTY- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE- https://dmk.in/mkstalin
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT- N/A
AWARDS- Kentucky Colonel Award
BACKGROUND- M. K. Stalin is the 8th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He also served as the deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and 37th Mayor of Chennai.
M K Stalin was born in family of politicians. His father, M. Karunanidhi was former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He began his political career at a very young age, in fact when he was in school. At the age of 14, he campaigned for 1967 elections for his uncle. Later he started DMK Gopalapuram Youth Wing along with his friends. In the year 1973, he was elected in DMK’s General committee.
Later in 1982, Stalin was appointed as DMK’s youth wing secretary. For around four decades he serves as the youth wing secretary. Apart from politics, Stalin was also a film producer and actor working in Tamil Nadu Film Industry. His debut film was Ore Raththam which was released in 1988. He also acted in few serials. However, he continued as an actor only till early 90’s.
Further, Stalin started contesting Assembly polls. In 1989, he for the second time contested from Thousand Lights, a constituency in Chennai and won. In the year 1996, M. K. Stalin was elected as the mayor of Chennai. He was Chennai’s first directly elected mayor.
As a mayor, he was indulged in a number of development projects for Chennai City. In 2009, during Karunanidhi’s final term as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Stalin was nominated as Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister by Surjit Singh Barnala, the then governor of Tamil Nadu.
In the year 2011, from Kolathur constituency, Stalin contested for Assembly elections of Tamil Nadu and won. Thereafter, in 2013, after a lot of debate, discussions within the party M. Karunanidhi named M. K. Stalin as Karunanidhi’s heir apparent.
So, after the death of Karunanidhi, he took over DMK reins. In 2019, under National United Progressive Alliance, he formed Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu and led it in 2019 Tamil Nadu’s general elections. Further, in 2021, for the third time, he won the assembly polls contesting from same constituency. On 07/05/2021, he took oath as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister.
MAJOR INITIATIVES- As a major, in 1996 he started a pet project called Singara Chennai for improving Chennai city’s infrastructure.
CAREER TIMELINE/ POSITIONS HELD-
1973- Stalin was elected in DMK’s General committee.
1982- Appointed as youth wing secretary of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.
1989- In 1989, he contested from Thousand Lights, a constituency in Chennai and won.
1996- He was elected as MLA from Kolathur constituency. He was also elected as mayor of Chennai city.
2001- He was re-elected as Chennai City’s mayor.
2003- M. K. Stalin appointed as DMK’s Deputy General Secretary.
2006- He became Rural Development & Local Administration Minister of Tamil Nadu.
2008- Stalin became the treasurer of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in 2008.
2009- He sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 29/05/2009.
2011- Stalin contested for Assembly elections of Tamil Nadu and won from Kolathur Constituency.
2016- Again contested assembly election of Tamil Nadu from Kolathur and won.
2021- Won the assembly polls contesting from Kolathur constituency again. He took oath as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister on 07/05/2021.
CONTROVERSIES/CASES- When national emergency was imposed in India, DMK was opposing Indira Gandhi’s imposed emergency. So, in the year 1976, under MISA, i.e., Maintenance of Internal Security Act, M. K. Stalin along with many other DMK members were jailed in the Central Prison of Chennai for protesting against the ongoing emergency. He also had to undergo torture in custody.
Also, in the year 2001, an allegation was put on Stalin that he has misused his powers as mayor and hence he had to leave the post of Mayor due to this reason. It was alleged that he was involved with his father M. Karunanidhi in Chennai Flyover Scam. He along with his father was arrested by CB-CID for corruption charges. However, case against M. Karunanidhi and M. K. Stalin was dropped by the police due to lack of evidence recently.
Around 2020, defamation cases were filed against Stalin for commenting on Jayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. However, these cases were quashed by the courts later.