M. K. Stalin | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Stalin in 2022 | |||||||||
| 8th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu | |||||||||
| Assumed office 7 May 2021 | |||||||||
| Governor |
| ||||||||
| Deputy | Udhayanidhi Stalin (from 2024) | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Edappadi K. Palaniswami | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu | |||||||||
| In office 29 May 2009 – 15 May 2011 | |||||||||
| Governor | Surjit Singh Barnala | ||||||||
| Chief Minister | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | O. Panneerselvam (in2017) | ||||||||
| 17thLeader of the Opposition inTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |||||||||
| In office 24 May 2016 – 6 May 2021 | |||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
| Chief Minister | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Vijayakanth | ||||||||
| Cabinet Minister inTamil Nadu | |||||||||
| In office 13 May 2006 – 15 May 2011 | |||||||||
| Minister | Rural Development and Panchayati Raj | ||||||||
| Chief Minister | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| Preceded by | K. P. Anbalagan | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | P. Mohan | ||||||||
| 2nd President ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||||||||
| Assumed office 28 August 2018 | |||||||||
| General Secretary | |||||||||
| Preceded by | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| Working President ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||||||||
| In office 4 January 2017 – 28 August 2018 | |||||||||
| President | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||
| Treasurer ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||||||||
| In office 27 December 2008 – 27 August 2018 | |||||||||
| President | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| General Secretary | K. Anbazhagan | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Arcot N. Veeraswami | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Durai Murugan | ||||||||
| Deputy General Secretary ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||||||||
| In office 2 June 2003 – 26 December 2008 | |||||||||
| President | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| General Secretary | K. Anbazhagan | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||
| 45thMayor of Chennai | |||||||||
| In office 25 October 1996 – 6 September 2002 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | R. Arumugam (in 1973) | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Karate R. Thiagarajan | ||||||||
| Member ofTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly | |||||||||
| Assumed office 23 May 2011 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Constituency established | ||||||||
| Constituency | Kolathur | ||||||||
| In office 13 May 1996 – 15 May 2011 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | K. A. Krishnaswamy | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | B. Valarmathi | ||||||||
| Constituency | Thousand Lights | ||||||||
| In office 27 January 1989 – 30 January 1991 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | K. A. Krishnaswamy | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | K. A. Krishnaswamy | ||||||||
| Constituency | Thousand Lights | ||||||||
| Youth wing Secretary ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam | |||||||||
| In office 20 July 1982 – 6 July 2017 | |||||||||
| President | M. Karunanidhi | ||||||||
| General Secretary | K. Anbazhagan | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | M. P. Saminathan | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (1953-03-01)1 March 1953 (age 72) | ||||||||
| Party | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | ||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||
| Children | 2 (includingUdhayanidhi) | ||||||||
| Parent |
| ||||||||
| Relatives | Karunanidhi family | ||||||||
| Residence | |||||||||
| Education | Bachelor of Arts | ||||||||
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Chennai | ||||||||
| Occupation | Politician | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
| Website | mkstalin | ||||||||
Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin[a] (born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician who has served as the eighthChief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 2021. He became president ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on 28 August 2018, after serving as the party's working president from January 2017 to August 2018.
Born in 1953, Stalin is the third son of former Tamil Nadu chief ministerM. Karunanidhi. He completed his education atPresidency College inChennai in 1973. He began his political career in the late 1960s and was elected to DMK's general committee in 1973. He was jailed duringthe Emergency in 1976. He became the secretary of the party's youth wing in 1982, a post he held for more than four decades. He served as the 45thmayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002. He has been elected to theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly eight times, and served as the state's firstdeputy chief minister from 2009 to 2011.
Stalin is married to Durga, and their sonUdhayanidhi currently serves as the state's deputy chief minister. In 2009,Anna University conferred an honorary doctorate on Stalin. In 2025,The Indian Express named him as India's 23rd most powerful personality.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was born inChennai on 1 March 1953 as the third son ofM. Karunanidhi, who would later serve asChief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and Dayalu Ammal. He was named afterSoviet leaderJoseph Stalin.[1][2] Stalin was educated atMadras Christian College Higher Secondary School.[3] He completed a pre-university course atVivekananda College and obtained a degree in history fromPresidency College in 1973.[4]
Stalin married Durga (alias Shantha) on 20 August 1975. They have two children.[4] Their son,Udhayanidhi Stalin, is an actor and politician who since 2024 isdeputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu.[5] Their daughter Senthamarai is an entrepreneur and education professional.[6][7] Stalin describes himself as anAtheist.[8][9][10]
Stalin began his political career in his early teens when he, with some friends, founded the youth wing ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Gopalapuram.[11] At 14 years old, he campaigned for his uncle,Murasoli Maran, in the1967 Madras State Legislative Assembly election.[12][13] In 1973, he was elected to the general committee of the DMK.[14]
In 1976, Stalin was jailed inMadras Central Prison under theMaintenance of Internal Security Act for protesting againstthe Emergency.[15][16] Whilst in police custody, he endured torture that which resulted in the death of his fellow prisonerC. Chittibabu.[17][18][19] He wrote his final-year college exams whilst in prison.[2]
Stalin established the youth wing of the DMK in 1980 and became its secretary in 1982, a post he held for more than four decades.[2] During the 1980s, he travelled across Tamil Nadu to encourage and mentor youth to join active politics.[20] In 1989, he was elected to theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly fromThousand Lights Assembly constituency, and represented the constituency five times.[2] In 2003, he became Deputy General Secretary of the DMK.[11]
Stalin became theMayor of Chennai in 1996.[21] As mayor, he initiated theSingara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai) project to improve the city's infrastructure.[2] He modernised the garbage disposal system by giving priority to cleaning works, and implemented development projects in areas such as health, public construction and schools. He built flyovers to address traffic congestion.[22] During his first tenure, nine major flyovers and 49 bridges were constructed at a cost of₹0.95 billion (US$11 million).[23] He also worked on improving the standard of corporation-run schools to be on par with private schools.[24][25] Parks and fountains were set up at 18 major junctions, 81 parks were renovated, and saplings were planted atMarina Beach.[26] His efforts in improving city infrastructure earned him the title ofManagara Thanthai (father of the city).[27]
Stalin was re-elected Mayor for the second time in 2001.[28] In 2002, the chief ministerJ. Jayalalithaa enacted the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, which prevented a person from holding two elected posts in the government.[25] Because Stalin was an elected member of the legislative assembly, this law was widely seen as an attempt to remove him as Chennai's mayor.[29]Madras High Court later struck down the law but held as per the City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, a person cannot be mayor for two consecutive terms, though unlike Stalin, earlier mayors were not directly elected.[27] As a result, Stalin resigned from the post.[30]
The DMK regained control of the state assembly in the2006 assembly elections. Stalin became the minister for rural development and local administration in theGovernment of Tamil Nadu, and retained this office throughout his term. During his tenure, he expanded women's self-help groups across the state by establishing 175,493 new ones. He also established drinking water projects such as the Hogenakkal and Ramanathapuram water schemes.[13][25] In 2008, he became the DMK's treasurer.[11]
On 29 May 2009, theGovernor of Tamil NaduSurjit Singh Barnala appointed Stalin the state's deputy chief minister.[31][32][33] During his tenure, on 23 February 2011, the Government of Tamil Nadu received a special award for the best state among the largest states in India, and the diamond state award for best state in civil safety, drinking water and sanitation, and women's development.[34] The state also won the most number of Nirmal Gram Awards for its exceptional role in maintaining sanitation in villages during Stalin's tenure as the minister of rural development.[35]
In 2013, Karunanidhi announced Stalin as his successor to head the DMK and confirmed it in 2016.[36][37] Ahead of the2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Stalin went on a statewide tour titledNamakku Naame. He won theKolathur constituency and was appointed opposition leader in the state legislative assembly.[38] In 2017, Stalin went on anotherNamakku Naame tour.[39] He was appointed as working president in January 2017 when the health of his father, Karunanidhi, started declining. In 2018, Karunanidhi died and Stalin became president of the DMK.[13]
Stalin formed theSecular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu and led the alliance in the state in the2019 Indian general election.[40][41] The Secular Progressive Alliance won 39 out of 40 Parliament seats, and 12 out of 21 in the assembly by-elections, in the party's first victory since Stalin took charge as the DMK's president.[42][43]
Stalin led the campaign for the Secular Progressive Alliance in the2021 Assembly elections; it won 159 seats out of the 234, with the DMK winning 133 seats, an absolute majority.[44] He was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on 7 May 2021, along with the rest of hiscabinet.[45][46]
Stalin assumed office during the second wave of theCOVID-19 pandemic, and established a war room to monitor the status of beds, ambulances, and oxygen supply.[47] After assuming office, he implemented policies offering₹4,000 (US$47) as one time relief to selectration card holders, free bus pass for travel in ordinary intra-city buses for women and reducing the retail price ofAavin milk.[48] In August 2021, he visited theESI medical college hospital against expert advice to meet up with patients getting treatment forCOVID-19.[49] The state had the lowest percentage of wastage ofCOVID-19 vaccines during the free public administration of the same.[50] On 2 September 2021, actor and politicianChiranjeevi met with Stalin to commend him on governance efficacy, and stated that Stalin had proved his mettle in handling the pandemic.[51]
Stalin established a new economic advisory council that included economistsEsther Duflo,Raghuram Rajan,Jean Drèze,Arvind Subramanian, and former Finance Secretary S Narayan.[52] Stalin handed appointment orders of theHindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to trained aspirants of all castes as temple priests in August 2021.[53] In an official release, Stalin quoted the reformist leaderThanthai Periyar, saying Periyar fought for equal rights in worship for all believers in God.[54] In September 2021, he changed the name of refugee camps ofSri Lankan Tamils to rehabilitation camps and said: "They are not orphans, we are there for them".[55] In September 2021, he announced Periyar's birthday would be celebrated annually as a social justice day.[56]
In June 2021, Stalin announced the state law ministry would review legal cases filed by the previous government. In September 2021, his government withdrew over 5,570 legal cases filed by the previous government in the past ten years against journalists and protesters againstthe three farm laws promulgated by the union government in 2020, theCitizenship Amendment Act, methane extraction, a neutrino project,Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the Chennai-Salem expressway project.[57][58] In September 2021, theMadras High Court commended Stalin for utilising school bags with the photos of previous chief ministers, and not reprinting them.[59][60] In December 2021, he unveiled a real-time dashboard, which provided relevant information from all the government departments.[61]
In May 2022, he welcomed the release ofA. G. Perarivalan, who was convicted for theassassination of formerPrime Minister of IndiaRajiv Gandhi.[62][63][64][65][66] Stalin served as a member of thebusiness advisory committee andcommittee on rules in the16th Tamil Nadu assembly.[67]
Stalin unsuccessfully contested the1984 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, standing for theThousand Lights constituency in Chennai,[4] to which he was first elected in1989.[68] In1991, he contested the same seat for the third time and lost. He had been elected to the assembly consecutively six times since1996.[4]
| Year | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Opponent Votes | % | Result | Margin | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Kolathur | DMK | 1,05,522 | 60.86 | Aadi Rajaram | AIADMK | 35,138 | 20.27 | Won | 70,384 | 40.59 | ||
| 2016 | 91,303 | 54.25 | J. C. D. Prabhakar | 53,573 | 31.83 | Won | 37,730 | 22.42 | |||||
| 2011 | 68,677 | 48.35 | Saidai Duraisamy | 65,943 | 46.43 | Won | 2,734 | 1.92 | |||||
| 2006 | Thousand Lights | 49,817 | 46.00 | Aadi Rajaram | 47,349 | 43.72 | Won | 2,468 | 2.28 | ||||
| 2001 | 49,056 | 51.41 | S. Sekar | TMC(M) | 41,782 | 43.78 | Won | 7,274 | 7.63 | ||||
| 1996 | 66,905 | 69.72 | Zeenath Sheriffdeen | AIADMK | 22,028 | 22.05 | Won | 44,877 | 47.67 | ||||
| 1991 | 38,445 | 39.19 | K. A. Krishnaswamy | 55,426 | 56.50 | Lost | -16,981 | -17.31 | |||||
| 1989 | 50,818 | 50.59 | Thambidurai | 30,184 | 30.05 | Won | 20,634 | 20.54 | |||||
| 1984 | 43,954 | 47.86 | K. A. Krishnaswamy | 46,246 | 50.36 | Lost | -2,292 | -2.50 | |||||
In August 2021, Stalin was ranked first among chief ministers of India in theIndia Today "Mood of the Nation" survey.[69]The Indian Express named Stalin as India's 24th most powerful personality in 2022,[70] and 23rd in 2025.[71]
On 1 August 2009,Anna University conferred upon Stalin an honorary doctorate for his contributions to governance and community development.[72][73][74] The Kentucky Colonel Award, the highest award given by theCommonwealth of Kentucky in the United States, was given to Stalin for his public service.[75] He was also honoured as Kentucky's goodwill ambassador.[76]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader ofDravida Munnetra Kazhagam 28 August 2018 – Present | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
