DNA Edit: What next? - Leadership vacuum in TN politics is clearly evident

M Karunanidhi’s death marks the end of a glorious chapter in Tamil history, which began with the southern state’s resistance to what was once called the tyranny of Delhi-centric North India.

The state-wide movement — in which he was a key player — played on identity politics, the kind that militated against Vedic culture and rituals and Brahmanical supremacy and advocated secularism and a return to Dravidian civilisation.

Such strong feelings of regionalism also highlighted the fact that given India’s rich diversity, any attempt at homogenisation will be stoutly opposed. Karunanidhi’s political grounding was shaped by the ideals of social justice as envisioned by his mentor Periyar, but the disciple also shaped the DMK during the long years of his stewardship.

Karunanidhi’s stranglehold over the party resulted in a family enterprise that had no qualms in making alliances or cosying up to the same parties that it vehemently opposed — the Congress and the BJP. However, the first sign of the weakening of ideological moorings was evident when internecine rivalry split the Dravidian movement with MGR breaking away from DMK to form the AIADMK.

Karunanidhi came from the cast of political leaders who spent years engaging with the grass roots — the foot soldiers of a political party — before occupying the Chief Minister’s post. He and MGR employed the mass medium of cinema to further their own legacies and did a brilliant job of it. Nowhere has cinema and politics enjoyed such a symbiotic relationship than in Tamil Nadu, each influencing and enriching the other.

In the end, Karunanidhi and the DMK came to symbolise the very ills he had attacked to build a political career — personality cult, dynasty-driven politics, corruption and nepotism. Karunanidhi, like MGR and J Jayalalithaa, was larger than life and a prisoner of his own image. After the tumultuous initial decades, DMK lost its zeal for reforms and reduced itself to playing politics for power.

Karunanidhi, a face of the establishment, lost the appetite to reinvent himself and the party. Yet, till his last day, Karunanidhi’s sway over the masses was unchallenged, even though he had retired from active politics some years ago due to old age and ailments.

The ocean of humanity that had gathered to pay last respects was proof of the tremendous love the public showered on him. The Tamil political landscape is significantly poorer after his demise. Even if DMK doesn’t go the AIADMK way — the party had split only to come together in a tenuous alliance — Stalin, his political successor, will find it terribly difficult to recreate the magic that his father once wove.

With the stalwarts gone, Tamil Nadu is a level-playing field where new entrants like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan have as much chance at the hot seat like any other seasoned politician. But none of them can aspire to rival Karunanidhi’s charisma and writ.

Even after so many years, he is still credited for giving voice to the lowliest of the low in the caste hierarchy and the poorest of the poor. The man who instilled self-respect in the faceless.