Will the Dravidian model rule work for DMK in 2026?

Hans India

10-05-2025

As an effective campaign tool, there is hardly anything better than promising 'social welfare'. Over five decades and more, from the time Mrs Indira Gandhi announced 'Garibi Hatao' as one of her policies to alleviate the misery of the masses in the turbulent 1970s, political parties in India have effortlessly sailed on this bandwagon to hit the bull's eye most of the times at the hustings.
The DMK government, which as expected, announced its completion of four years of Dravidian model rule last week in a grand way, highlighted its work in this regard. Three notable schemes – financial assistance scheme to women, free bus rides for the fair sex and breakfast schemes for government-aided schools are already being spoken about as game changers for the oldest regional party in south India.
Tamil Nadu, which has firmly been a pocket borough of both DMK and AIADMK for close to six decades is a standout example of 'intensely local' mode of governance in this phase. It has dealt with the Centre on its own terms, not always successful, but has riled the Delhi establishment many a time with its insular and Tamil-first approach on many issues.
On the face of it, with the next Assembly elections due in May 2026, the party does not seem to have a real competitor to challenge it as it aims for a repeat performance. History may not be on its side as DMK has never returned to power despite ruling from Fort St George for the first time since 1967 as the State faced 16 elections in this period. Interestingly, Jayalalitha bucked the trend as AIADMK stormed to power, to enable her stay on as the CM till her demise in 2016.
Stalin, having served for long under his mercurial and successful Dravidian politician father, M Karunanidhi got his due in 2021 after effectively dethroning the wobbling rival, the AIADMK. Having resorted to the standard campaign which regional party heads have adopted, he had kept the limelight on his party and political performance by challenging Delhi and taking on the NDA on contentious issues like NEET abolition and recently, the NEP.
While this has given him better visibility in the anti-BJP bloc, which is now in a battered shape, it has alerted the alliance partners who find
themselves to be in a better position to bargain and bag more seats for themselves from either of the two formations. While the caste element is at the core of any such arrangements as described above, the AIADMK, which would be forced to enter into a tight ropewalk as far as its big ally BJP is concerned may end up being a comforting factor for its opponents. The saffron party has been quick to make the appropriate noises and also take decisive action by removing the popular state chief, Annamalai to keep the alliance on track. Analysts are quick to point out despite the Tamil media grudgingly acknowledging it, the BJP has grown from what it was to touch a decent 11 per cent vote share in the Lok Sabha polls and has kept the youth interested.
DMK is still being critically assessed for its patchy track record on law and order, corruption charges against in the upper echelons of bureaucracy and a few ministers who have been jailed and a worrisome industrial relations scenario with the Samsung strike posing a few uncomfortable questions. Unemployment too is an issue which has bothered the state youth and the government is on the defensive in this case.
Hence, a year, as of now, may seem too long, but politics is a strange animal. Regional politics, even stranger.