Tamil Nadu Assembly polls | Stalin’s patient and long wait ends

Stalin rose from being youth wing leader to legislator, Chennai Mayor, Minister and Deputy Chief Minister over the years, he had to constantly prove his mettle.

It has been a long haul for Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin. Indira Gandhi’s Emergency had catapulted him into active politics. It was a baptism by fire, when, in his early twenties, the newly married Stalin, was dragged away and jailed. His father, late DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, once remarked that Mr Stalin was arrested only because he was his father’s son. The son, however, has had to wait for over four decades to occupy his father’s seat, first in the party, and, in the next few days, in government. Karunanidhi had poignantly portrayed Mr. Stalin’s arrest and subsequent torture in prison. One of the imprisoned DMK leaders, Chittibabu, a former Chennai mayor and former MP, tried to intervene when jail officials were thrashing him. Chittibabu was also severely beaten.