Apr 16, 2026 12:26 pm IST

Opinion | In Stalin's Tamil Nadu vs Delhi Pitch, Flashbacks From A 2014 Jayalalithaa Episode

In 2014, Jayalalithaa had posed the question to the Tamil Nadu electorate,"Gujarat Modiyaa Tamil Nadu odu intha ladyaa"(Gujarat's Modi or this lady of Tamil Nadu), and tasted electoral success, winning 37 of the 39 seats in the state.

TS Sudhir TS Sudhir Columnist

MK Stalin did the unthinkable while addressing a public meeting in Ranipet on Monday. He invoked the DMK's rival - former chief minister Jayalalithaa's name - to say that if she were alive, the former AIADMK supremo would have spoken against the delimitation exercise being planned by the NDA government, just like she had criticised GST and NEET. 

Of course, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister used this comparison to emphasise that the present AIADMK chief, Edappadi Palaniswami, is subservient to the BJP and never speaks against any of the alleged ''anti-Tamil Nadu policies'' of the Union government. While in the context of the 2026 assembly election, Stalin was looking to de-hyphenate EPS from Jayalalithaa's legacy, he was also taking a leaf out of the 'Puratchi Thalaivi' ('Revolutionary Leader' as Jayalalithaa was referred to) book, which she used twelve years ago. 

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, contrary to expectations that she would support Narendra Modi's candidature for Prime Minister, Jayalalithaa threw her own hat into the ring. She framed herself as a direct competitor to Modi for the top job, reeling out data on various parameters to........

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