Opinion | Mudslinging Starts As AIADMK And DMK Use Karunanidhi In Campaign Rhetoric

Updated: Apr 05, 2026 15:40 pm IST Published On Apr 05, 2026 15:37 pm IST Last Updated On Apr 05, 2026 15:40 pm IST

Published On Apr 05, 2026 15:37 pm IST

Last Updated On Apr 05, 2026 15:40 pm IST

Muthuvel Karunanidhi is back. Seven and a half years after he passed away, the former chief minister is now the subject of heated barbs between his son MK Stalin and his political rival, AIADMK supremo Edappadi Palaniswami. None of the arguments are pleasant as politics is being done over someone who is no more.

The AIADMK has brought back Jayalalithaa's old reference to Karunanidhi having reportedly arrived in Chennai (then Madras) by travelling ticketless on the train. This has been part of Dravidian folklore but how it is being interpreted differently by the two sides is what makes the anecdote interesting. While the AIADMK's aim has always been to say that Karunanidhi's innings in the state capital began with "'cheating the railways", the DMK used it to paint Karunanidhi as a self-made man who came from nothing. Over the years, the narrative helped them frame the DMK as a party that understands the struggle of the common man. But now when Palaniswami refers to Karunanidhi's ticketless travel again in 2026, it is to highlight it as an example of DMK dishonesty.

The more emotional war of words is over what happened in the last few years of Karunanidhi and the controversy over his final resting........

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