Stalin manages an unenviable task
The Hindu
DMK’s allies say the Chief Minister has handled challenges in a mature manner
Only a few Chief Ministers have created the kind of expectation that Tamil Nadu’s M.K. Stalin has done. The way he conducted himself during the Assembly election campaign last year and the promises he made indicated a Chief Minister in the making. However, the election victory in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19 had placed him in an unenviable position.
When he took oath of office on May 7 2021, the challenges were too many: the State coffer was empty; the medical infrastructure was inadequate to handle the pandemic and he had to deal with a government at the Centre, led by the BJP, with a diametrically opposite political view.
A year on, the ruling DMK’s allies are full of praise for him, saying he has acted in a mature manner and handled the challenges well.
“He is accommodative and the way he is functioning has a positive effect on the government machinery and officials. Whether it was the farmers’ protest or the NEET, or other rights of the State, the DMK government has taken an uncompromising stand. It came out openly against the New Education Policy and announced its intention to make its own policy. He has a model framework for the States ruled by non-BJP governments,” said CPI (M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan.
Mr. Stalin’s style of functioning and his outreach created a confidence that the government would intervene and find a solution if an issue is brought to his notice.
Issues highlighted in social media also have received the government’s attention and many times, the Chief Minister himself extended a helping hand to the needy and the deserving.
“The major factor is that this is the government that has made people feel its presence in one year, while the AIADMK government led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami was never able to achieve the same. Though the DMK and the AIADMK are competent in governance, the ideological orientation the DMK government has been able to provide and its leadership, have given certain impetus to State policies,” said Ramu Manivannan, Professor and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras.