his ascension first as dmk president and later as tamil nadu chief minister was smooth in the past two years however politics for the firsttime chief minister and dmk president m k stalin has been rather turbulent even when he gained some attention while stepping on to the national stage with the slogan of social justice his government had several conflicts with the centre over neet hindi imposition farm laws national education policy extension of gst compensation period fuel prices and fisher folks issues stalin however employed subtle diplomacy to ensure the simmering antagonism did not impede some crucial decisions that needed the centres support the latest was the nod for the muthamizh aringar dr kalaignar pen monument from the ministry of environment forest and climate change politicians outside his party too acknowledge stalin as a leader stalin has established himself as a leader said vck mp d ravikumar the dmk won both the lok sabha elections 2019 and the assembly elections 2021 under him he gave importance and authority to good officers stalins move to spearhead social justice and advocate states rights is smart so is his branding of the dravidian model of governance as an idea and political practice crafted by former chief minister c n annaduraiusually governments name welfare schemes after political leaders but stalin says it has evolved out of the dravidian model it is a constitutional model that advocates equality fraternity and liberty many feel the social justice concept is under attack under the bjp regime said ravikumar the dmk governments confrontation with tamil nadu governor r n ravi has been fiercer starting with the holdup in bills passed by the assembly to provocative exchanges the governmentgovernor skirmishes assumed political overtones with the dmk and its allies demanding that the governor be removed the main opposition aiadmk has proved a weak foe fighting as it is an enemy o panneerselvam within and pitted against an aggressive ally the bjp outside as for the state bjp leader k annamalais dmk files campaign and the ptr audio tapes they have been dismissed by stalin as cheap politics for stalin it has been an evolution of sorts from being a regional player to a leader trying to bring together nonbjp parties at the national level on some issues all is not well between the dmk and its allies a recent point of friction was the factories act amendment bill to introduce flexible working hours which was passed by the assembly and later withdrawn but the allies are not openly rebelling every political party has its programmes said cpm state secretary k balakrishnan we have formed a front to fight the bjp there are bound to be differences thats natural but it is nothing serious and it wont disturb the front he said dmk allies say the 2024 lok sabha elections were not between the bjp and the congress but between the bjp and the regional parties the situation has created an atmosphere for regional leaders to