When looking at the reasons why M K Stalin lost, it is worth remembering how long he waited to win. Stalin did not seize the DMK but inherited it slowly, almost painfully, after decades inside the party, without revolt, without splitting it, and without challenging his father and former CM M Karunanidhi’s authority in public. His rise was patient, disciplined, and organisational. That is why Monday’s verdict appears to be so brutal to his supporters. The DMK losing power would have been explicable. Stalin himself losing Kolathur, a seat he had held since 2011 and won by a huge margin in 2021, suggests something larger than routine anti-incumbency. TVK’s V S Babu defeated him by nearly 9,000 votes, making it one of the rare defeats of a sitting Tamil Nadu CM in his own constituency. Along with him, several senior ministers, including Durai Murugan, P Geetha Jeevan, Ma Subramanian, TM Anbarasan, Nazar, Mathiventhan, and T R B Raja, lost. “We bow to and accept the verdict of the people.…