'Situation has changed, DMK has to look beyond anti-Modi plank'
Chennai-based analyst Peer Mohamed says anti-BJP sentiment no longer needs DMK's amplification — the party's real battle now is with Vijay, even as it is inching strategically closer to the BJP
The DMK is realising that there is more to Tamil Nadu politics than opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and must find new ways to engage voters, especially with Vijay emerging as a strong mass leader, according to Chennai-based political analyst Peer Mohamed.
He pointed to the “zero BJP” campaign of the 2026 elections, which left the BJP with a single Assembly seat, from Udhagamandalam, as evidence that anti-BJP sentiment in the state runs deep enough on its own. With Vijay commanding the ground as a mass leader, he said, opposing him — not the BJP — has become the DMK’s central challenge, shifting its focus from the national stage back to Tamil Nadu, he told The Federal.
Tea party gesture triggers political debate
Mohamed said Kanimozhi’s attendance at the Lok Sabha Speaker’s customary tea party also showed the DMK’s willingness to move strategically closer to the BJP, even as the party remains in the Opposition in Tamil Nadu.
Also read | Vijay positions himself as voice of South after TN Assembly's anti-delimitation move
The DMK MP was the only INDIA bloc leader to attend the tea meeting hosted by Speaker Om Birla at the end of Parliament's Monsoon Session, while the rest of the opposition stayed away — a move that has triggered debate over whether the party is quietly recalibrating its equation with the BJP even as it sits in the Opposition in Tamil Nadu.
Mohamed said the gesture is unlikely to translate into a formal political alliance any time soon, since the DMK has no immediate electoral need for one, with Tamil Nadu’s local body polls approaching and Parliament elections still some distance away. But he read Kanimozhi’s presence as a clear signal that the DMK wants to be seen as strategically closer to the BJP.
He also suggested a second motive: that the DMK could be using this proximity to pressure the Vijay-led government in Tamil Nadu, calling Kanimozhi’s participation significant given her role as the DMK’s face in Delhi.
No shift on delimitation, DMK maintains
On whether the DMK's position on delimitation has softened — from Chief Minister M K Stalin’s viral burning of the draft delimitation bill to a more recent emphasis on “fair delimitation” — Mohamed pushed back on any ideological shift.
He said Stalin has consistently called for fair delimitation from the outset, and that the DMK had backed Chief Minister Vijay’s Assembly resolution insisting the 543 Lok Sabha seats remain unchanged. He noted Stalin himself had acknowledged this continuity in the Assembly, tracing it back to when he, as the chief minister, rallied southern chief ministers against delimitation.
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On Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s upcoming visit to Chennai for the conference of southern chief ministers, Mohamed downplayed its political significance, describing it as a routine Southern Zonal Council meeting tied to Shah’s official duties rather than a moment likely to reshape the BJP’s prospects in South India.
Kanimozhi’s growing clout in DMK
Mohamed said Kanimozhi’s stock within the party is rising, and that Stalin and his son, Udhayanidhi Stalin, are reportedly taking her views more seriously. He linked this to a generational shift in the DMK, which he said is under pressure to project younger and more women leaders alongside family figures to stay credible with Tamil Nadu voters.
