It is a fact that Kodanadu, located in the hilly Nilgiris district, is a cool place but this does not mean that people living here are taking rest without doing anything,” wrote Jayalalithaa ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Kodanadu is an estate in the Nilgiri hills that she and her friend Sashikala own. Much of the AIADMK strategising was done in Kodanadu. Those who criticised her for spending most of her time there are now looking foolish, after the AIADMK’s stupendous Assembly election victory.
Obviously, post-victory demolition was part of the strategy because true to form, Jayalalithaa is systematically legacy-smashing most initiatives of her predecessor, M Karunanidhi. He had constructed a magnificent Rs 1,100-crore, oval-shaped new secretariat-cum-assembly complex, turning the 300-year-old Fort St George secretariat into a library for the Central Institute For Classical Tamil Studies. At what was meant to be the last session of the Assembly in the historic building he slyly reminded members of the past. “This Assembly hall here has seen many good things and also several unpleasant episodes. But let us not dwell on the bad things as we move into our new House, so that we stay more focused on the problems of the people and of the nation,” Karunanidhi said in his speech at the “final” session of the Assembly.
Among the “bad things” that happened in the Assembly, Jayalalithaa can never forget at least one. In 1989, when the DMK was in power, Jayalalithaa got up to interrupt Karunanidhi’s Budget speech, complaining of police harassment ordered by the CM. As the House erupted Karunanidhi said something unparliamentary about Jayalalithaa that made her MLAs furious. Microphones were flung from one side of the Assembly to the other, with chappals and books following; Budget papers were torn in half and the Speaker ruled that the House was adjourned. As Jayalalithaa was walking out, the DMK’s minister for public works, Durai Murugan, caught hold of her sari and tried to tear it off her as she cried for help.
Although then Jayalalithaa declared she would never enter the Assembly again until she was sure a woman’s dignity would be protected, she has attended Assembly sessions subsequently. But now, when she is CM, Fort St George is the building that represents revenge — not some new structure that will always be a reminder of Karunanidhi. Little wonder then that she has refused to move into the new building — and gave her MLAs the licence, for one night on May 13, to do as they wanted in the new secretariat, including sitting and sleeping in the CM’s room.
She is making her moves at her leisure. The first set of government decisions is the freebies she had promised — mostly women-centric. But the promise of nationalisation of private cable networks will hit the Sumangli network the hardest — and that is owned by the Maran family, nephews of Karunanidhi.
Although vendetta is a part of Tamil Nadu politics, Jayalalithaa drinks an extra shot of it every day. She has a right to be bitter. The only authoritative accounts of her early life are contained in an autobiographical series of articles in Tamil magazine Kumudam. Entitled Manamtirandu Solrain (I am baring my heart), the series talks about her early life, the abject poverty her family had to face and as a result, how she was pushed into the world of cinema by her mother. The series breathes bitterness at her early life, the relentless discipline of learning dance, music and acting, a robbed youth and the circumstances of her father’s death.
The Kumudam series also talked of her fascination with cricket. Then, as she embarked on an account of her association with Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR), the series ended abruptly. The last one was called Manamtirandu Sollamudiyallay (I an unable to speak from the heart). This was when MGR intervened and ordered her to stop writing.
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Her association with MGR began with the film Aayirathil Oruvan (One in a Thousand), in which he was a Robin Hood type of figure – a pirate – who was dashing and adventurous. Despite a 32-year age difference, the pair clicked and the film was a runaway hit.
She once said poignantly: “One third of my life was influenced by my mother; two thirds by MGR. It is all but gone now. A third is left for myself now.” MGR made her propaganda secretary in the AIADMK. He sent one of his associates to coach her in public speaking. Jayalalithaa learnt fast — and was soon on an upward political trajectory that many in the party resented. She was banished to Delhi on an ostensible promotion — membership of the Rajya Sabha. She was lonely here, and MGR had fallen critically ill but she was not allowed to see him. She returned to Tamil Nadu when he died in 1987 only to be thwarted by his widow Janaki. However, it was Jayalalithaa that the people of the state supported when she was forced off the gun carriage that carried MGR’s body, humiliated and molested. She became CM from 1991 to 1996, the period when both she and her friend Sasikala were haunted by corruption charges.
Sasikala continues to be a fixture at Poes Garden. But everything else has changed. True, Karunanidhi is now more vulnerable than before; but the ambient atmosphere is much less tolerant to corruption and defalcation of public money. So moves made by her and her immediate “family” need to be watched.