 "Jayalalithaa Jayaram: a profile")
You could apply the description to JayalalithaaJayaram, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, General Secretary of the All India Anna DravidaMunnetraKazhagam, (Dravidian Progressive Federation) and described by opponents as a he-woman.
On Saturday, Jayalalithaa was convicted by a special court in Bangalore on corruptions charges and sentenced to four years in jail and fined Rs 100 crore. If the conviction holds in a higher court, she will be barred from contesting elections for six years after her prison term, or a total of 10 years starting today.
Tamils consider themselves ethnically distinct from all other Indians: they don’t speak the national language Hindi, have an incredibly rich language and culture. As a natural counterpoise Tamil politics is imbued with the spirit of revolt: against caste and religion, strongly influenced by egalitarian rhetoric, the whole carried forward and held together through the medium of cinema.
It is hardly surprising then that the most important figure in contemporary Tamil politics should be MG Ramachandran, himself a non-Tamilian but a Marlon Brando-type figure in Tamil cinema and the protagonist of films supporting the underdog.
In 1972 MGR was suspended from the DMK for questioning the use of funds for an annual World Congress of Tamil Scholars, which was a vehicle for politics for all Tamil Nadu parties The Tamil scholars and intellectuals, the educated Dravidian middle class, the city-dwellers and the organised trade unions stayed with the DMK. But the unorganized workers, the pavement dwellers and urban poor went with MGR. He founded the Ana DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (ADMK) and used his films such as Idhayakkani and Nettru, Inru, Nalai to boost the party.
A series of heroines starred opposite him. But none of them was as deeply touched by politics as much as JayalalithaaJayaram whose first film with MGR was AayirathilOruvan (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”.
Till then very little was known about Jayalalithaa – this was only her second film. The only authoritative accounts of her early life are contained in an autobiographical series of articles in the mass-circulated Tamil magazine, Kumudam in the late 1970s. Entitled ‘ManamtiranduSolrain’ (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 who died in utter penury.
Her relationship with MGR has been cause for much speculation. He formally brought her into politics in 1982 when PU Shanmugam was AIADMK general secretary. Bright and ready to learn, she found herself on her way up in the party, becoming MGR's right hand, rising to become Propaganda Secretary. An admirer noted that her entry in politics was befitting a 'queen'. She was carried through the streets by enthusiastic ADMK workers, wearing a golden crown and holding a golden sceptre when she was made propaganda secretary. But the older rank and file of the party, resentful at her sudden rise, plotted against her. Suddenly she found MGR had dropped her. She was kicked upstairs and sent to Delhi, ostensibly on promotion to the RajyaSabha as MP in 1985, but in reality, to bring down her public profile a notch or two.
Then in 1987, MGR died. What followed was a free for all. Those opposed to her in the party propped up VN Janaki, MGR’s legal wife. Expulsions and counterexpulsions followed. When Jayalalitha tried to take her place on the gun carriage next to his body for MGR’s funeral, she was pushed off , molested and insulted. A faction in the ADMK heaped humiliation upon her. Worse, the Congress decided it was more prudent to go into the assembly elections with the faction of the ADMK headed by MGR’s widow rather than Jayalalitha. As Janaki was just a figurehead, that experiment did not last long.
After various machinations, Jayalalitha came to power as chief minister. The Imelda Marcos period followed, alleges the Opposition.
Her first term as Chief Minister saw her take two important steps. Again, reflecting her own circumstances, she said after she became CM: “It is my firm conviction that a woman should marry only if she wants to raise a family, not simply because she needs a man to support her”. 100,000 women were given entrepreneurship training so that they could set up their own small industries. Female infanticide was prevalent in many pockets of Tamil Nadu. So Jayalalithalaunched the ‘cradle baby’ scheme: if families did not want girl babies, they were invited to leave them in cradles placed outside social welfare centres, no questions asked. The government adopted and brought up these babies. Rs 5,000 was placed in a fixed deposit in the adopted child's name and when the child attained 18 year of age, she received aRs 20,000.
She also launched all-women police stations to provide a safe space for women suffering from domestic abuse, starting with one station and going up to 57.
But along with all these measures, there were also charges of corruption. From 1991 to 1996, Jayalalitha was accused of abusing her official position to acquire government land in 1992 for Jaya Publications, in which she was a partner. It caused a loss of Rs 35 million to the exchequer although later she was discharged in the case. The CBI was asked to find out the source of a donation of Rs 30 million from abroad that was reflected in her income tax returns in 1992-93 but laws decreed that no taxes were to be paid on it as it was a gift in foreign exchange. The Central Bureau of Investigation was asked to enquire into this. And in 2000 she and erstwhile ministerial colleagues were convicted of having allowed a seven-storeyed luxury hotel to come up in the hill station of Kodaikanal in violation of building laws which permitted only two floors, a decision taken by her during her Chief Ministership from 1991 to 1996.
These were only a few of the cases against her. There were more but she was defeated badly in the 1996 assembly elections, her party winning just four out of 234 seats.
While before she was Chief Minister, Jayalalitha's assets were worth Rs 2.01 crore, after five years in power, her assets were calculated to be disproportionate by Rs 66.65 crore. Lists of her assets were leaked to the newspapers: 28 kg of jewellery (worth Rs 51 crore), 91 wrist-watches, 41 air-conditioners, 10,500 sarees, 750 pairs of footwear… the star seizure was a gold belt that weighed 1,044 gms with 2,389 diamond, emerald and ruby stones, and engraved with a dancing peacock in the middle, alone worth Rs 46.79 lakh….
Her rival, the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (DMK) did everything to punish her, including setting up special courts and imprisoning her in jail like a common criminal "with cockroaches and rats" in her cell, she complained.
The 2001 Tamil Nadu assembly elections saw a rout of the DMK and the reinstallation of Jayalalitha as CM. Because of the plethora of legal cases against her, she had to quit the chief ministership and instal a "loyal soldier of the party" OS Panneerselvam as Chief Minister. However, when she was acquitted by a lower court, she won a byelection, made Panneerselvam resign and was CM till 2006.
As Chief Minister, her second term record in administration is mixed. She banned lottery tickets without bothering about revenue loss to the state government when the poorest in Tamil Nadu saw lotteries as their only chance of getting rich. She sacked 200,000 government servants at one go, stopped free power to farmers, increased the price of rice in the ration shops, cancelled ration cards of all those who earn more than Rs 5,000 per month, hiked power and bus charges, passed a law seeking to curb religious conversions, and banned animal sacrifices in temples.
But after the 2004 LokSabha election were announced, she allowed animal sacrifices in temples and supplied free power to farmers.
Her antipathy to criticism is legendary and her contempt for journalists well known. “No one can get anything out of me or subdue me by threats, harsh treatment; it only makes me more stubborn, inflexible, unbending, determined. The only way one can get me to cooperate is to be nice to me, pamper me, cajole me, talk to me kindly, softly” she said in 1985
But in her personal life, Jayalalithaa remained deeply unhappy. Her attempts at ending the mutually instrumentalist relationship with MGR and yearning to lead an uncomplicated married life, had ended in nought: her first love, another film actor SobhanBabu led her on, but ultimately found he was unable to divorce his wife. Surrounded by political intrigue, Jayalalithaa had to hone her instincts of self-preservation and eventually came to depend on women friends: a comrade called Sasikala on whom she relies for emotional support till today.
There were problems with this too. Sasikala’s nephew Sudhakaran was ‘adopted’ by Jayalalitha as her foster son.In that capacity he ran JJTV, a TV channel as CEO. Then, he was disowned, after the Income Tax department swooped down on him to explain how he had amassed personal wealth amounting to Rs 50 crore. Jayalalitha and Sasikala conducted Sudhakaran’s wedding with pomp and circumstance: only to disown him.
Her relations with the Centre were equally mercurial during this period. In 1998, she formed an alliance with her hitherto foes, including, among others, Subramanian Swamy, who had led the anti-corruption campaign against her, and the BJP, which was until then an untouchable in Tamil Nadu. This dysfunctional alliance helped Jayalalitha and her allies win 30 out of the 40 parliamentary seats in the southern state.
However, before long she was just as quickly turning friends back into foes. From day one, the relationship between Jayalalitha and the BJP soured. It began with her demand that SubramaniamSwamy be made Finance Minister. For the next 13 months she held the fragile government hostage with threats that she could pull her 18 MPs out of the coalition at a moment's notice - as she finally did leading to a Lok Sabha election. When she aligned with the BJP, it was because “it would be a national shame if that foreigner [Sonia Gandhi] comes to power. There are many able Indians to lead India." And yet, 13 months later, at a tea party held in her honour, she had a short meeting with the opposition Congress leader, Sonia Gandhi.
She described the brief talks as a political earthquake and then sent her own tremor through the governing coalition by withdrawing two ministers from the government and pulling out of the co-ordination committee.
Ahead of the 2009 general elections Jayalalithaa forged an alliance with Left parties. However, this came to nothing and the ADMK won nine seats out of 39. But she led her party to a stupendous electoral victory in the assembly elections of 2011. the AIADMK and its allies won 202 seats of the 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly. The AIADMK alone won 150 seats.
One the first things she did on becoming Chief Minister was to systematically legacy-smash most initiatives of her predecessor, M Karunanidhi. But she did not limit herself to dismantling this legacy alone. Scores of freebies, women-centric schemes and sops to the poor were rolled out. This included the famous Amma canteens, pharmacies, and now, cement. Between 2006 and 2011, Karunanidhi's DMK government spent Rs.4,000crore to provide free colour TVs to eligible households. AIADMK, in its first two years in power, spent Rs.2,917crore on mixies and grinders and has allotted Rs.1,500 crore in 2014-15.
What happens now? It’s hard to say. She is likely to stay in jail for at least a year. Even after that, she will not be allowed to contest elections for another nine years. Her political life is – probably – over. The breach can either be filled by the BJP or the Congress. And then those of lesser loyalties will begin to desert the sinking ship. Suddenly, the implosion of the ADMK is no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.