Did Stalin miss a new deal with Modi?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Chennai on May 26 was an opportunity for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to re-draw his relationship with the Centre. It was Modi's first visit since Stalin became CM after the DMK won the 2021 assembly polls.

But the opportunity appears to have gone to waste. Instead of attempting to improve chemistry with the PM, Stalin chose to play to the gallery by waving the DMK political card vis-a-vis the Centre. Instead of pleading for more funds for infrastructure, a subject close to Modi's heart, Stalin confined to electoral rhetoric.

Bowing to pressures from political forces that helped the DMK win the elections, Stalin attempted to show before the PM that he nor his party cared two hoots for the BJP-led Central government.

Stalin accorded priority to his political ambition to play the fulcrum for non-BJP parties for an alternative arrangement of opposition parties to challenge the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Stalin seemed to be caught in a web of the DMK's internal dynamics with each faction owing allegiance to one of his family members for a big say in official decisions.

But the DMK's challenge is to maintain the anti-Centre posture when it has four more years to go and not much to showcase as its achievements.

On the other hand, influential sections within the DMK feel that Stalin must keep the politics out when he deals with Modi to maximise benefits for Tamil Nadu. These sections do not mind the DMK even examining the possibility of some workable understanding with the BJP as they fear the Central agencies may swoop down upon them, owing to previous cases of disproportionate incomes and assets.

With its national ally, the Congress, on a downhill, these sections argue that Stalin cannot just ape KCR or Mamata Banerjee just to please the anti-BJP lobby. In the 2019 elections, Stalin was the only regional party leader who pledged to work to make Rahul Gandhi as PM. What happened to the Congress was a shock to the DMK rank and file. Will Stalin again parrot that line for the 2024 polls also or look for new options?

True to his style, Modi did not show irritation or annoyance at Stalin's attempt to hijack the platform provided at Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.  Instead, Modi got up and shook his hands with the Tamil Nadu CM. Later, Modi held Stalin's hand and asked him to join in handing over the keys to the beneficiaries of a housing scheme. Modi's gesture came after Stalin's strongly-worded speech, which showed that the PM won't walk into any trap set by the ruling party.

Why is the DMK worried about the BJP?

The DMK, which has completed one year in office, has been facing heat in the wake of several of its promises to the electorate in 2021 still to be implemented. With the AIADMK still to recover from defeat, the BJP has been trying to emerge as the main opposition even though it won only four assembly seats. Since former Indian Police Service officer K Annamalai was made state unit head, the BJP has managed to gain traction, particularly among the youth.

That is why Stalin stuck to the DMK's oft-repeated issues. Stalin made a pitch for Tamil to be on par with Hindi and asked Modi to make it an official one in the offices of the Government of India and at the Madras high court. He also placed some demands before Modi like the retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka for Indian fishermen and grant assent to the NEET exemption bill. Stalin also asked Modi to ensure the Union government cleared GST dues to the tune of ₹14,006 crore and extend GST compensation. In the same breath, Stalin boasted about the so-called "Dravidian" model as if it was a counterfoil to Modi's stress on developing world-class infrastructure for faster growth.

Why did Modi choose to ignore Stalin's rants?

Modi virtually unveiled several projects worth more than Rs 30,000 crore. These included the 4-lane road from Neraluru to Dharmapuri (a section of NH 844), the 2-lane road from Meensurutti to Chidambaram, and the projects related to the redevelopment of Madurai, Egmore, Rameshwaram, Katpadi, Kanyakumari and a third railway line between Tambaram and Chengalpattu.

He also flagged off a special train from Madurai to Theni, a constituency once dear to late AIADMK leader and former CM Jayalalithaa. He inaugurated 1152 houses that were built at a cost of Rs 116.27 crore.

But, as Stalin sought to steer the debate around the national language versus regional language, Modi said the Tamil language is eternal and Tamil culture is global. "It is always special to come to the state of Tamil Nadu. The land is a special one. The people, culture, and language are all so good. The Tamil language is eternal and Tamil culture is global."

Modi did not let go of the opportunity to back the National Education Policy, which the state government has rejected.  

Will Modi win back Indian fishing rights from Sri Lanka?

In response to Stalin's plea for restoring the traditional rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island of 285 acres sandwiched between India and Sri Lanka in the Palk Bay, Modi drew attention to the fact that he was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Jaffna in Sri Lanka.

As the island was hit by shortages, the Centre permitted Stalin’s government efforts to reach relief material, along with its own massive supply of fuel and food. It also sent Rs 15,000 crore worth of financial assistance.

Stalin's reference to Katchatheevu underscored the DMK's anxiety that the BJP government might be attempting to do something in this regard following External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit to Sri Lanka, which was followed by TN BJP chief K Annamalai's visit.

The buzz is that the Modi government will push Sri Lanka to implement “in letter and spirit” the 1974 agreement reached between Indira Gandhi and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, then prime ministers of India and Sri Lanka, on the island. Colombo may be persuaded to withdraw the instructions issued in 1976 that apparently “superseded the provisions of the legally valid” pact between India and Sri Lanka, thus making Katchatheevu out of bounds for Indian fishermen.

The 1974 agreement that gave away Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka happened when the DMK was in the best of ties with the Congress and ruled Tamil Nadu. Katchatheevu was part of the territory ruled by the Rajah of Ramanathapuram.

Modi spared Stalin but blasted KCR

Modi did not make any attempt to score political points directly against Stalin or the DMK while he was in Chennai--unlike in Hyderabad on the same day. There, Modi once again launched a scathing attack on dynastic politics while he was addressing a BJP rally. He said, "Dynastic politics is the biggest enemy of democracy. Development begins when dynastic politics end." Taking a dig at the K Chandrashekar Rao-led government in Telangana, he said, "People of Telangana want a change, BJP will come to power. Even the poor can have dreams now," he said.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao gave the PM's visit a miss again as he left for Bengaluru, just hours ahead of the arrival of Modi. This is the second time in the last four months that KCR has avoided meeting Modi during the latter's visit to Hyderabad.

When the DMK was in opposition and the AIADMK was in power in the post-Jayalalithaa phase, Stalin had led his party's "Go back Modi'' campaign. Therefore, a day after Stalin minced no words in articulating his demands before Modi, BJP president K Annamalai accused the CM of making a political speech. Union Minister L Murugan said the CM acted inappropriately and turned the event organised to launch development projects into a DMK rally to cover up his misgovernance.

"The PM did not visit Chennai for a BJP programme but to launch projects and lay foundation stones for over Rs 31,000 crore worth of projects," Annamalai said. “The official function was about the developmental initiatives for TN. Our CM was expected to show grace, but he ended up disgracing himself by talking about the Dravidian Model, social justice and cooperative federalism,” Annamalai said.