On 4 May 2026, Tamil Nadu spoke. They knew who they did not want to see in power, the DMK. And they spoke decisively.
It was loud and clear, that five years of arrogance, hatred, corruption, and intimidation have a price. We all saw it on counting/results day.
This is not merely a political win for Vijay. This is a collective exhale from a state that was slowly being suffocated.
Dynastic Politics
It is a well-known fact that the Karunanidhi family – he himself, his son, MK Stalin, the grandson Udhayanidhi Stalin, his daughter Kanimozhi and all the nephews and nieces are the ones controlling power and repeatedly get to sit in the corridors of power. After becoming Chief Minister, within a short time, MK Stalin made Udhayanidhi Stalin, a film producer with zero administrative experience, as Deputy Chief Minister. Stalin’s son-in-law V Sabareesan reportedly ran shadow networks of influence across state machinery. The party that once championed EVR’s egalitarianism had quietly become a royal court, with the Stalin family at its throne. Tamil Nadu was being handed to the inheritors of Karunanidhi.
This was not just limited to the top family, this exact same scenario was replicated with ministers, their sons/family members, other party post holders as well.
505 Promises, Endless Excuses
The DMK marched into the 2021 election with 505 promises in their manifesto. Five years later hardly a couple of 100 promises were fulfilled. Women’s safety was nowhere to be seen. All their promises on TASMAC regulation went bust. Law and order at its absolute worst. Drugs and ganja became even easily available than any other state, any other government – TN topped the drugs list. To shut the people up, they came up with a welfare scheme for women but limited the number of recipients after promising it for every woman in the state.
Hate Speech Dressed as Ideology
This is where the DMK’s poison was the most toxic.
In September 2023, Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin stood at a public stage and declared that Sanatana Dharma should be “eradicated” the way one eradicates dengue and malaria. The Supreme Court of India criticised him, holding that he had abused his constitutional right to free speech. The Madras High Court went further, ruling in January 2026 that his remarks constituted hate speech, and that the phrase “Sanatana Ozhippu” implied nothing short of culturicide.
They still continue making such statements and hurting sentiments of crores of Hindus.
This was not an isolated moment of poor judgment. It was policy. DMK’s official social media handles routinely run anti-Brahmin cartoons. Senior party leaders openly made casteist remarks targeting Brahmin communities at public forums.
DMK leaders stated that learning Hindi would “make us shudras, slaves”, weaponising caste language against an entire linguistic community. DMK and its allies compared Lord Rama to a perpetrator of honour killing.
For five years, Hindus, Brahmins, and Hindi speakers in the state and outside were open targets – mocked, slandered, and threatened by ministers and party leaders who faced zero accountability. This was Dravidian politics, hatred with a government stamp on it.
Corruption Without Consequence
Right from the times of Karunanidhi who was known for his scientific corruption till the ministers, MLAs, councillors and DMK members in any official post, corruption runs deep in their arteris and veins. It is a part of their DNA.
2G scam that rocked the nation – DMK was involved
Illegal mining and sand smuggling – DMK ministers are named
Cash for jobs scam – DMK ministers/MLAs are involved
Loot through TASMAC – DMK members involved
Toilet scam, textile scam – you name it, it will have a DMK link somewhere or the other.
Once these scams are out, and then what? Nothing, zilch, nada.
Dissent? Expect a Midnight Knock
The DMK and its coterie ensured the police also was part of this team – they did not just ignore criticism. They would hound dissenters and critics for it.
Independent Tamil YouTubers, journalists who spoke about government corruption or their failures had their homes raided, taken away at odd times, some even had their equipment seized, family harassed. They had false cases hoisted on them – some even landed Goondas Act. Social media users, ordinary citizens, were arrested for posts that mocked Stalin or Udhayanidhi or anyone in the DMK and their family, under provisions so broadly applied they amounted to a digital sedition law. Political opponents were buried under FIRs and notices – not to seek justice, but to exhaust, intimidate, and silence.
The message the DMK sent to every critic for five years was simple and unambiguous: speak, and the state will come for you.
The Fall They Earned
And so, the DMK government fell – one by one, constituency by constituency, in ways that felt less like election results and more like long-overdue verdicts.
MK Stalin, who had won Kolathur three consecutive times, lost to TVK’s VS Babu by 8,795 votes. After nine assembly contests, the Chief Minister tasted defeat in his own backyard. PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, who never missed a chance to lecture Tamil Nadu, lost Madurai Central by 19,128 votes. Health Minister Ma. Subramanian was routed in Saidapet by 28,514 votes. S. M. Nasar lost Avadi by a staggering 74,829 votes. And K. R. Periyakaruppan lost Tiruppattur by exactly one vote – democracy’s most precise and poetic rebuke.
DMK lost and it was cathartic to watch several sitting MLAs and ministers trail all day and lose.
Tamil Nadu knew who it did not want – they did not want the DMK back in power. And the results speak for itself.
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