In a politically significant gathering in Chennai on Wednesday (July 29), Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin inaugurated a bust of the late Communist Party of India (CPI) leader R Nallakannu (1924-2026), and launched a book Ammaachi, Karpanaiyin Muthal Aasiriyar (Ammachi: The First Teacher of Imagination) written by Baghu Ethu, the coordinator of the city-based Thina Nilavasigal Drama Troupe.
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Appearing alongside the CPI’s state secretary M Veerapandian, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader affirmed that the Dravidian and communist movements would remain firmly united against any challenge to the Tamil language and people, and the rights of Tamil Nadu.
Udhayanidhi upholds Dravidian-communist links
“Whatever happens against the rights of Tamils and Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian movement and the communist movement will forever stand hand-in-hand on the same front in the field,” Udhayanidhi said.
Recalling the late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s soft corner for communists, the senior leader said that the former chief minister and his grandfather had often said that he would have been a communist had he not met Periyar. Udhayanidhi also said that the former CM was more saddened by the absence of communists in the Tamil Nadu Assembly after the 2016 results came out, than by his own party’s defeat.
He said later that his father, M K Stalin, continued the tradition of respecting the communists after he became the chief minister.
Former allies share stage
The coming together of the DMK and CPI leaders months after an eventful transition of power in Tamil Nadu is significant. In May, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) witnessed a crack as several allies of Stalin’s party, including the Left parties such as the CPI and CPI(M), left it to back Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) to form the state’s first non-Dravidian coalition government in decades.
Besides the Left parties, the Congress, VCK and IUML also decided to switch sides to help the TVK, which fell little short of a majority on its own, to form the government. While the other three parties joined the government, the two Left parties gave outside support, declining cabinet posts over policy differences.
Veerapandian, however, hinted recently that the CPI may join the ministry soon.
TN’s fluid alliance politics
The appearance of Udhayanidhi and Veerapandian made the observers curious. They found the development interesting, given the ongoing friction in the TVK-led dispensation — Left parties have kept protesting Vijay’s government despite backing it, and CPI previously criticised Vijay at a NEET-related event at Chennai’s Balan Illam.
Udhayanidhi, it may be mentioned here, reiterated the DMK’s long-standing opposition to NEET on Wednesday, framing ongoing protests as the start of a determined struggle to abolish the exam entirely.
The CPI has, on the other hand, managed its ties with the DMK more carefully than the CPI(M), which has clashed with the DMK before.
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Historically, the CPI has aligned with the DMK while CPI(M) has sometimes partnered with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Political analyst Dayalan Shanmugam of The Federal said the DMK-Left relations have remained largely stable; that the CPI’s plan to join the cabinet seemingly bypassed the CPI(M); the two Left parties criticised Chief Minister Vijay on the NEET protest issue is noteworthy; and that the DMK appeared to be exploring alliances excluding both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress’s decision to dump the SPA in favour of the TVK triggered a massive reaction in the DMK camp and the repercussions were even felt in the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance bloc at the Centre.
Veerapandian’s presence at the event drew public curiosity, with Udhayanidhi joking that many callers asked whether a “horse trade” was underway. The CPI leader, for his part, has stressed ideological closeness with the Dravidian movement, identification of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)-BJP as the primary enemy, and readiness to collaborate on democratic struggles despite electoral roller-coaster rides.
‘Era of policy-less seductive politics’
Udhayanidhi also took a veiled dig at the recent developments in Tamil Nadu politics in a post on X after the event. In it, he called Veerapandian as “Brother” and said, “In this era where a gathering of policy-less seductive politics has taken shape, it was Comrade Nallakannu Ayya who guided us that policy and ideals alone are our primary identity.”
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The event highlights the fluid post-poll landscape in the southern state: communists helped stabilise the TVK-led government, averting alternatives involving the AIADMK or Governor’s rule, yet their continued protests and selective engagement with the DMK reveal friction over allies, power-sharing and governance.
Udhayanidhi’s unity call on Tamil rights suggests that, despite the electoral split and the Left’s role in the current setup, issue-based DMK-CPI cooperation remains possible.
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