Mother Courage

Weekend Ruminations

Granted, she commands strong and even fanatical political support in her state, for without that she would not have returned to office as chief minister of Tamil Nadu after being voted out in 1996 and then been vilified and prosecuted on several charges in an effort to finish her politically. But that support is mostly from People Like Them.

In her critics' eyes, it is not just that she has carried forward Tamil Nadu's unfortunate tradition of personality-driven politics, nor that she is a ruthless politician "" because it can be argued that she has learnt the rules of the game the hard way, and has decided to give as good as she gets.

It is not even the megalomania that manifests itself in giant cut-outs of herself all over Chennai, and in the sorry sight of Cabinet colleagues laying themselves bodily at her feet in abject surrender to her wishes. Nor is it the excesses of a lavish wedding for an adopted son, for that was many moons ago.

There are more hard-core issues, like the many corruption charges that she has faced; but she would argue that almost all these cases have either ended in her favour or are still going through the courts.

The total effect, though, is to create the over-all impression of a dragon lady from whom it is best to stay at arm's length, or to tread gingerly in her presence. As the state's civil servants have discovered after their recent strike, it is dangerous to cross her path because she can adopt draconian methods to achieve her goals.

For all her image problems, though, she deserves a cheer for achieving some remarkable results in economic and financial management, by doing precisely the kind of things that politicians with a better or more acceptable public image (among the reading classes, at least) shy away from doing.

For instance, she has tackled all the three super-sensitive items that reformers keep pointing to, and which politicians shy away from: food subsidies, power charges and bus fares.

Thus, she has slashed Tamil Nadu's food subsidy by Rs 1,000 crore annually "" by raising the price of rice issued under the public distribution system, by refusing to give subsidised rice to the non-needy, and by lowering the cost of rice procurement by insisting on buying rice from the Centre at half the price she would have to pay in the open market.

Then, she has raised bus fares for all the state-run transport corporations, and decided to privatise half of all bus services, while ensuring that what remains in the government's hands is run at a profit.

And most important of all, she has put an end to the free supply of electricity to the state's farmers (introduced by the DMK more than a decade ago), and raised electricity charges all round, so that the Rs 4,000 crore annual loss run up by the state electricity board is sharply reduced.

With the money thus saved, she can afford to set up a new thermal power unit every year "" and bring momentum back to the state's stagnant power sector.

Most of these measures involved political risks. But perhaps the most courageous "" if also draconian "" steps were the ones she took to break the strike by government employees.

While the employees have many points on their side of the argument, Jayalalithaa went over their heads to the people of the state with a damning piece of statistics: 98 per cent of the state's tax revenue goes to pay the salaries of 2 per cent of the state's population. So, however draconian the measures, she has overwhelming public support on her side.

The end result is that a hopelessly empty state treasury is now filling up once again. And the government therefore has the money to spend on development items like infrastructure and social programmes.

All those chief ministers who shy away from such measures, in the belief that it will lose them public support, should take note: there is no evidence that Jayalalithaa has lost any of her support by undertaking these reform measures.