Sometime in mid-2020, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president MK Stalin’s hairstyle transformed. From what was clearly a receding hairline, he ...
Sometime in mid-2020, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president MK Stalin’s hairstyle transformed. From what was clearly a receding hairline, he now sported thick, black hair. Some on social media tried to ridicule this artificial change. But the transformation was not merely a cosmetic decision.
For decades, Stalin had to live under the shadows of his father M Karunanidhi, arguably the greatest stalwart of the Dravidian movement who was chief minister of Tamil Nadu five times.
When Stalin emerged as Karunanidhi’s favourite to take over the leadership of the DMK after him and became Chennai’s mayor in 1996, he was the 43-year-old youth wing secretary given the responsibility to draw the next generation to the DMK. He was “Thalapathi”, the young commander, to “Thalaivar” Karunanidhi, the leader, who died in 2018.
The party propaganda today does not miss a chance to reiterate to the people that Stalin has been in politics for 50 years. That he is not merely a dynast but someone who worked his way up the party ladder. But at the same time, the black-dyed hair and the predawn bicycle rides showcasing his physical fitness, during which he takes selfies with people, are thought-out strategies to communicate that the 68-year-old leader is still...
