It is 7am on March 30. The morning is pleasant, and the vegetable market at First Agraharam in Salem, Tamil Nadu, is busy. A convoy of vehicles stops near the roadside shops. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, clad in black track pants and a pink T-shirt, steps out of his car. Cellphones go up and slogans pierce the air. Stalin indulges the clamour for selfies, interacts with women, and introduces the man by his side— T.M. Selvaganapathy, the DMK’s candidate in Salem Lok Sabha constituency. “Vote for him in the Rising Sun symbol,” he says.
The DMK hopes to sweep all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry. Stalin is, technically, in a four-cornered fight on the ground with Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK, K. Annamalai of the BJP and Senthamizhan Seeman of the Naam Tamilar Katchi. But, in pulling crowds and delivering fiery speeches, he is far ahead of rivals.
The DMK’s entire campaign revolves around Stalin and his vigorous campaign against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The DMK’s slogan—‘Bring down fascism; save India’—taps into the deeply entrenched anti-BJP sentiment in the state. “Modi is a myth, and that myth is breaking down,” he told THE WEEK. “Modi did not win the past two parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu. The people are confident that the BJP, which has betrayed Tamils, the Tamil language and Tamil Nadu, will be brought down.”
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