Success-failure, ups and downs, happiness-unhappiness, it is not easy to give rise to rumours-proverbs-controversies! Jayalalitha Jayaram is that rare
Success-failure, ups and downs, happiness-unhappiness, it is not easy to give rise to rumours-proverbs-controversies! Jayalalitha Jayaram possesses that rare feat of being, literally, the proverbial idol. From the beginning of his political career in 1981 until his last illness in 2016, proverbs and controversies were his daily companions. He is admitted in the hospital, doctors are coming from abroad, leaders like Venkaiah Naidu-Rahul Gandhi are coming to see him.
Even at such a moment, the arch-rival Tamil leader Karunanidhi could say, “Where! Jayalalithaa is really there, in the hospital, her picture should be shown! Only then will I believe!'' Many people shouted at Karunanidhi. Many surrendered again, he said it right! Need proof!
There are always so many myths surrounding Jayalalitha, nothing can be believed without proof.
Controversy goes along with worship for his healing. Around the hospital, Pujopat fairs across the state. Jayalalithaa is not only the leader, not only the Chief Minister for two and a half decades, she is the 'Amma' of the entire Tamil Nadu.
Tamils worship her as a goddess, called 'Adhiparashakti'. The name, however, is taken from a 1971 Tamil film starring Jayalalithaa. So what! Can it be a coincidence that the 'goddess' actress of that day is the 'mother' of the people today! Bhakti meets faith.
And in this tide of devotion, the meaning of politics changes. Agapashtala in Tamil Nadu is covered in his mouth. From salt packets to canteen doors, from 'Amma Mineral Water' to round-the-clock 'Amma Call Center' (her own hotline to serve the people), her compassionate face is evident. Of course he himself is not beyond the phone or SMS. But common people believe that she is, will be, Amma is what they are reaching for.
More than 150 operators are working tirelessly to answer all the phone calls coming to 'Amma', to solve the crisis. What can be a greater manifestation of the greatness of the Goddess! From the beginning, Jayalalitha recognized it as a trump card. He was successful from the start in creating a 'larger than life' image of himself to the public. She has depended on constant devotion to rise from a popular film star to a popular leader.
Those who say that Jayalalithaa's emergence in politics as a close friend of MGR and her establishment as the main face of the AIADMK party by replacing MGR's widow, Chief Minister Janaki Ramachandran, are actually political thread-pulling are not wrong. But they may not notice, without great personal charisma such a leader would not have been created. From the beginning, his politics has been marked by struggle. If he did not rely on the charisma of devotion, could he have passed this long struggle?
Most of the big leaders in Indian politics have come up with the blessings of one or the other big leader. Nehru's Indira, Kansiram's Mayawati - their debut is by the hand of their leader. But Jayalalitha's rise does not fall entirely in that table. Although MGR initially gave her a platform, her real rise as a leader came through a spat with the MGR faction within the party. In India, especially in a society like South India, no other avenue was open to him than Bhaktiism to crack the stronghold of patriarchy.
Bhakti's raft has helped to cross the sea of crisis, bearing in mind the Bagha Bagha allegations of corruption. In September 2014, he was jailed on charges of excess wealth, making history as the first jailed Chief Minister of an independent country. The case brought by Subrahmanyam Swamy was going on for three decades. In Tamil Nadu, one DMK and the next AIADMK came to power, when DMK came to power, the case against Jayalalitha was fueled as much as possible.
However, Amma's popularity did not take such a toll. Goddesses have wealth! In October 2014, after 22 days of imprisonment, Jayalalitha was returning home after being granted bail by the Supreme Court just before Diwali, she descended straight from heaven in the baji-alo-ullas-festival!
There was also the possibility that the face of Tamil Nadu would gradually become the face of India. Jayalalithaa is the only recent leader who has been the subject of prime ministerial speculation more than once.
Even before the 2014 elections, she was one of the main figures in Third Front politics — no matter how her number of sarees and shoes put the Income Tax Department at risk. Not only in Tamil politics, but also in Indian politics, no one wants to cross a boundary into the uncomfortable question of Jayalalithaa. Despite the whispers, no one cares much about his personal life.
Even if that life is closely connected with politics. Leaving aside everything, Amma who adopted the nephew of her long-time partner Sasikala from the Thebar community, is she like that, or was there some great political compulsion behind it? What did he have to do to make the non-Brahmin castes his vote bank despite being a Brahmin child?
Not just curiosity, these questions are more serious. Will Amma have any long-term impact on caste-dominated and patriarchy-ridden Tamil politics? From the beginning, she was the target of attack by the male leaders along with the devotion of the common people, as several biographies have described. On the contrary, his protest against patriarchy is not only in politics but also in life.
Although a daughter of the Mandyam Iyengar clan of Karnataka on her father's side, Jayalalithaa has always identified herself as a Tamil by descent from her Srirangam-born mother. Has become extremely unpopular with the Kannada people. In Basanti's biography 'Amma: Jayalalitha's Journey from Movie Star to Political Queen' - Jayalalitha goes to an art function in Mysore and hundreds of Kannada goons with sticks surround her residence, admitting her paternity and apologizing!
Nothing could be swayed, Jayalalithaa is not willing to speak anything other than Tamil.
Because of politics, presumably. However, it must be admitted that all these events throw a different light on the known socio-politics of India. A little strange light.
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| Jayalalitha Jayaram |