Udhayanidhi's elevation, proposed young women's wing good news for DMK?

A few days ago, when Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah was inducted into the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) as one of the key office bearers, tweeples in Tamil Nadu were infuriated. The opposition and detractors of the BJP and the RSS took to the social media to question the saffron party and the Sangh over ‘dynasty politics.’

However, they were silenced when the BJP and RSS supporters pointed out the recent elevation of Udhayanidhi Stalin as the DMK youth wing secretary. While arguments, trolls and counter-arguments over Jay Shah's induction was raging on Twitter, the young Stalin was busy campaigning for the bypolls in Vikravandi and Nanguneri.

Clearly, Udhayanidhi Stalin is the ‘rising star’ in the DMK. He is the only person bringing in the much-required star value to the DMK. Incidentally, Udhayanidhi Stalin, a few weeks after he was elevated as the youth wing secretary, got the taste of sycophancy at the very first meeting held at a star hotel in Chennai. The sycophancy continues at his public rallies and election campaigns.

“He is our new leader. Like our Thalaivar he also takes digs at the BJP and points out the AIADMK’s misrule. I like hearing him. He is young and energetic,” tells a youth wing cadre, who had listened to him during his campaign at Vikravandi.

After Udhayanidhi Stalin was elevated as the youth wing secretary, unlike in the last two years, the youth wing began assuming more prominence in the party. In fact, there was a massive membership drive, which was organised by the new secretary himself, to attract more youngsters into the party, with a catchphrase 'Udhayanidhi azhaikkirar' (Udhayanidhi is calling).

Through the meetings and membership drive organised by the youth wing, a subtle message was being sent to the party insiders about the prominence the young DMK scion enjoys in the party. In July, just before the Vellore Lok Sabha polls and a little after he was elevated as the youth wing secretary, M.K. Stalin convened a meeting of district secretaries at Anbagam. Anbagam, a few meters away from the DMK headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, in Chennai, is the youth wing office of the party. “This is unusual in the history of our party,” many of the party seniors and district secretaries had lamented then.

While the young scion is a star speaker and a prominent face in the party, it seems his youth wing has further plans to strengthen the party. Highly placed sources in the youth wing say there are plans to form a young women’s wing, which will come under the youth wing.

Though sources close to Stalin’s family say the idea of forming a young women’s wing was talked about, there hasn't been any decision taken in this regard yet. However, information from the insiders is that the young women’s wing, under the youth wing in the DMK, will be akin to the Ilaignar and Ilam Pengal Pasarai or the young men and women’s wing in the AIADMK. The idea is to woo young women who are interested in politics and make the youth wing more powerful. The party intends to rope in women under the age of 35 who are knowledgeable and have the financial wherewithal to fight the opponents. In fact, the DMK already has a women’s wing headed by Kanimozhi. The women’s wing, of course, does not have much prominence in the DMK.

It may be recalled that in the early 80s, after M.K. Stalin was jailed during the Emergency and assumed prominence in the party, the youth wing was formed to elevate him. “After the launch of the youth wing, the DMK’s students wing started waning away. Till then, DMK’s students wing was very powerful both within the party and in the education institutions, especially in the colleges where it ruled the roost for many decades,” recalls senior journalist R. Mani.

Formation of new wing for young women is likely to see the waning away of the existing women's wing. “The AIADMK floated its Ilaignar and Ilam Pengal Pasarai because there was no youth wing. The DMK has a youth wing and a women’s wing. Any new forum for women in DMK can’t help them earn the desired number of women votes. Karunanidhi, of course, elevated Stalin only after he became the chief minister. But Stalin has propped up his son at a time when he is the opposition leader. Giving any more prominence to Udhayanidhi in the party will even make Stalin’s chances of being elected as the chief minister a question mark,” points out political analyst Raveendran Thuraisamy.