Politics of cooperation and not of confrontation seems to be the theme Stalin is sticking to.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister of a fortnight, M.K. Stalin, looks like he has worked out a “toolkit” of his own on governance delivery.
His style of functioning so far marks a refreshing change and is an expo of a close-to-ideal working expected of an elected leader and is something even his ardent supporters are pleasantly surprised.
Let’s take a few decisions of his as the new Chief Minister, in either tackling the Covid-19 pandemic–leaving the thinking, strategizing, planning, and execution to the experts in governance delivery (officials known for their proven efficiency), or consulting the Opposition and including the health minister from the AIADMK regime in a panel charged with handling the pandemic, and releasing details of CM Public Relief Fund as an example of transparency that he had promised during poll campaigns.
Politics of cooperation and not of confrontation seems to be the theme Stalin is sticking to–especially at a time when Tamil Nadu has become the state with the highest number of daily cases in the country.
Stalin had appealed for donations from Tamilians, the entire diaspora, for funds to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, and since then, there has been a stream of donors handing over cheques. Tamilians from across the world did pitch in, and when it was last counted, it stood at Rs 69 crore.
Out of the funds collected so far, Stalin had allocated Rs 50 crore for purchase of Remdevisir drug, and oxygen containers to transport oxygen from other states through trains.
The TN government released the figures of the fund stating that Rs 69 crore had been received as contributions towards Covid relief to the CMPRF. This included receipt of Rs 29.44 crore via online and Rs 39.56 crore in person.
Stalin also participated in a meeting hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Covid-19 preparations and sought help for TN’s rightful share of vaccinations and medicines, as also oxygen supplies.
The Chief Minister has been upfront, communicating directly with the masses on the pandemic and the steps the government was taking so that there was no confusion of any kind. Stalin has come out with a clear-cut video message to people on masking up, social distancing, sanitizing, and fight against Covid-19. Much against the anticipated shakeup in bureaucracy, Stalin retained most of the officials and deployed efficient officials in key areas to maintain continuity in governance delivery. A handful of officials have been brought in for getting a grip on the official machinery.
So far, on the transparency issue, Stalin has fared well, but these are early days. On one thing analysts concur is that the five decades of under his father–Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch–in administration and also exposure to the rough and tumble of politics and the ups and downs of leading the governance delivery mechanism, is helping Chief Minister Stalin handle the responsibility with relative calm.
For Stalin, from the minute he took over, the pandemic has become the biggest challenge. To meet TN needs–oxygen, vaccines, and drugs for treatment of Covid patients– the government has asked the private sector to set up joint ventures and has declared a 30% capital expenditure subsidy for manufacture of essentials and encouragement to startups in this arena as well.
On the political front, Stalin is trying a tightrope walk, maintaining a cordial working relationship with the Union government headed by the BJP against whom he campaigned vigorously, and putting up a tough posture on a host of issues the DMK feels strongly about.
Take for instance the New Education Policy, over which the DMK has severe objections. The DMK feels that the central government was trying to sneak in Hindi through the NEP and had already declared during the election campaign that it will strongly oppose any attempt to “impose Hindi” even if under the guise of popularizing Sanskrit.
The Stalin government skipped a virtual meeting convened and chaired by Union Minister Nishank Pokhriyal on the New Education Policy 2020, citing unhappiness with the central government response on DMK demand on ministerial discussion on the issue first.
The Union Minister had convened a meeting of Education Secretaries to discuss NEP implementation. State Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi declared that “centralization of education was unacceptable and Delhi couldn’t decide what people in Tamil Nadu wanted to learn”. The state has a two-language formula and was happy with it, he said, echoing the strong stand of the DMK on the language issue and in particular on the “alleged imposition of Hindi”. In fact, the language issue is also an emotional one, and even the previous AIADMK government had to declare that it would follow only a two- language–Tamil and English–formula in the state.
“Through the policy, the Centre insists that there should be two Indian languages. Tamil will naturally be the first language here. But the Centre is talking as if English does not exist,” the state minister said.
“Ours is a multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society…we can’t accept the imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit. Implementing the three language policy will not benefit our rural students. DMK stands by its policies,” declared the minister, indicating clearly one of the big flashpoints with the Centre.
On the finances front, it remains to be seen as to how Stalin finds money for the welfare programmes, and for the fight against the pandemic. The state budget, in the making now, will be the first litmus test.
For this, however, he has roped in a person with the necessary knowledge of finances, economics, and business–a Wall Street veteran and MIT graduate Palanivel Thiagarajan, son of veteran DMK leader PTR Palanivel Rajan–as the state finance minister.
It is a tough time to take over as the state finance minister when Tamil Nadu’s debt stands at Rs 5.78 lakh crore and is undergoing a financial crunch. Stalin understands this and backs him to the hilt.
After being sworn in as the state’s finance minister PTR, as the state finance minister is popularly known, told reporters “It (GST dues) is a black and white, legal commitment of the Indian government to the states. There is nothing to be discussed.”
A severe critic of the Modi government’s financial policies, PTR maintained: “Tamil Nadu is a well-to-do state. You cannot sit in Delhi and make decisions for people… Devolution is the basis of governance, not just from the Centre to the state, but from the state to local bodies as well.”
Problems of the country cannot be solved with a single solution due to the scale of diversity and complexity, the finance minister said.
On the ground, for the people, the new government is trying hard to keep things as they were. In fact, Stalin has roped in former health minister of the AIADMK, C. Vijayabhaskar, onto the panel to fight the pandemic.
In a stern message to overzealous and enthusiastic DMK workers “celebrating the victory by vandalizing an Amma canteen”, they were promptly ordered to fix the damage and made to apologize. And then, the duo was suspended. Stalin also indicated that Amma canteens would continue to run as they were, without a change in name as was being speculated. Amma canteen was the most popular of all welfare schemes started by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi is a senior journalist tracking social, economic, and political changes across the country. He was associated with the Press Trust of India, The Hindu, Sunday Observer, and Hindustan Times. He can be reached on kvlakshman@gmail.com and Twitter handle @kvlakshman.