M. K. Stalin

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (,, born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 2021.

Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953.

Karunanidhi was addressing a condolence meeting for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who died only four days after his child was born, and thus decided to name his son after Stalin.

Stalin studied at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School.

As a 14 year old, he campaigned for his uncle, Murasoli Maran, in the 1967 elections.

In 1968, Stalin started the DMK Youth Wing in Gopalapuram in a barber shop with his friends.

He completed a pre-university course at Vivekananda College, and obtained a history degree from Presidency College, Chennai of University of Madras in 1973.

In 1973, Stalin was elected to the General committee of the DMK.

Stalin married Durga (alias Shantha) on 20 August 1975, and has two children.

His son is Udhayanidhi Stalin, an actor and politician.

Udhayanidhi is married to Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, an Indian Tamil film director.

His daughter is Senthamarai Sabareesan, an entrepreneur and educationist.

She is the director of Sunshine Schools, Chennai.

Senthamarai is married to Sabareesan Vedamurthy, an entrepreneur and political strategist.

Like his father, Stalin has publicly disclosed that he is an atheist.

But he also said that he is not against any religious beliefs.

His political career began in his early teens when he started the DMK Gopalapuram Youth Wing with several friends.

He came to the limelight when he was jailed in Central Prison, Madras under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for protesting against the Emergency in 1976.

He was beaten up in custody and a fellow DMK prisoner C. Chittibabu died of injuries and police torture while protecting him.

He wrote his final year BA exams while in prison.

Stalin formed the DMK youth wing.

In 1982 Stalin became the youth wing secretary of DMK, a post he held for more than four decades.

In 1983, he transformed the Gopalapuram Youth Wing into a Statewide phenomenon and led the frontal as a Secretary, a position he held for more than four decades.

During the early stages of the Youth Wing, he travelled across Tamil Nadu with other members to mentor fellow youth of the state in key areas of active politics at the grassroots level.

Stalin contested the Assembly polls unsuccessfully from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai.

In 1989 Stalin contested Assembly polls from Thousand Lights constituency again, and won.

The DMK government got dismissed in 1991 before completing its full five-year term.

In 1991, he contested for the third time from the same Assembly constituency, but lost to K. A. Krishnaswamy of the AIADMK.

He served as the 45th Mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002 and the 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2009 to 2011.

Stalin was placed 24th on the list of India's Most Powerful Personalities in 2022 by The Indian Express.

Stalin is the third son of 2nd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi, and was born to his wife, Dayalu Ammal.

Again in 1996, Stalin won the election as an MLA from the Thousand Lights constituency.

Stalin became the city's first directly elected mayor in 1996.

He coined a pet project called Singara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai), lauded for improving Chennai's infrastructure.

His efforts in improving city infrastructure earned him the title of Managara Thanthai (father of the city).

During his tenure as mayor, Stalin was well received by the people of Chennai.

In 2003, Stalin became Deputy General Secretary of the DMK.

Stalin was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Anna University on 1 August 2009.

In 2011 Stalin changed his constituency for the first time in his political career, moving from Thousand Lights to Kolathur constituency on the outskirts of Chennai city.

The son of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Stalin has been the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party since 28 August 2018.