The Madras High Court has ruled that the Tamil Nadu government must refrain from using the name or image of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in the branding or promotion of state-funded welfare schemes. This decision came in response to a petition filed by AIADMK MP C.V. Shanmugam, who challenged the use of the CM’s name and likeness in initiatives like ‘Ungaludan Stalin and ‘Nalam Kaakum Stalin Thittam’, arguing that such personal branding gave undue political advantage at the cost of public funds.
The court noted that public welfare programmes, which are funded by taxpayers’ money, must maintain political neutrality and should not feature the names or images of serving politicians. The petitioner referred to Supreme Court rulings and the Government Advertisement (Content Regulation) Guidelines, 2014, which prohibit the use of political figures’ names and photos in government publicity to prevent misuse for electoral gains.
The Tamil Nadu government's legal counsel, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson, defended the naming convention, claiming that the petition was politically driven. He questioned why schemes named after leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi ("NaMo") or former CM Jayalalithaa ("Amma") were not similarly challenged, suggesting that the petition selectively targeted the DMK leadership.
While the court clarified that it had no objection to the welfare schemes themselves, it stressed that their presentation must avoid associating them with current political leaders. The ruling effectively upholds the principle that state-sponsored programmes should not be tools for political promotion, reinforcing guidelines to keep government advertising apolitical and impartial.
