The rise and rise of Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: Uncertainty had haunted J Jayalalithaa all her life; so is it now for Tamil Nadu after her death, less than seven months into her second successive term as chief minister, leaving a void none in her AIADMK party can fill. In death, as in life, she remains an enigma.
Jayalalithaa was adored, deified and hated, but one just could not ignore her. Ever since she was catapulted to stardom at the age of 16, Jayalalithaa always stayed in the news.

Fame, fortune and success came in quick succession, on her own admission, quite effortlessly. But there always was an innate sadness in her that gave one the impression that she never found what she was looking for. Though Jayalalithaa lived life queen-size, she had always been a loner and remained distrustful till the end. "In life there is one person you must rely on — yourself," she once said.

Jayalalithaa was always on her own, and took her motto of self-reliance to the limit, in the party and in governance. That she pulled it off despite censure from various quarters was plain from her second successive victory and fourth term as chief minister. People who have seen her evolve apparently saw a rationale in her assertion of personal supremacy.

Jayalalithaa's transition from actress to politician in 1982 was by no means seamless. But for her proximity to AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, who mentored her, the young and attractive Brahmin lady would have had a tough time finding her feet in a male dominated party rooted in Dravidian ideology, amid stiff opposition from senior leaders.

After MGR's death in 1987, again she was on the verge of being banished to political wilderness. As always, her perseverance and determination saw her through.

From opposition leader in the assembly in 1989 to the present-day Amma of millions of people, Jayalalithaa had to slug it out to stay on top in the murky and vengeful politics of the state. Her first term as chief minister from 1991 was marred by controversies that made her hugely unpopular and she was thrown out of power by a fuming electorate in the next elections.

Lessons learnt, she used her tenures as the chief minister in 2001, 2011 and 2016 to consolidate her hold on the masses and capture their hearts through an invincible combination of populist schemes, welfare measures and good governance.

Her imperious, autocratic manner of functioning, disdain for inner party democracy and intolerance to criticism only seemed to endear herself all the more to the masses and to the cadre. That she had them in a vice-like grip speaks volumes about the psyche of a people. Jayalalithaa had discovered the magic formula. Brand Amma was here to stay.

Jayalalithaa had been a fighter all her life. And life had been a battle for her, ever since she sacrificed her dream of becoming a lawyer after topping the school board exams and entered films when she was in her teens to support her widowed mother. She fought all the way up, not letting adversities stymie her ascent.
She faced defeat at the hustings and in court rooms, but always bounced back with the courage and resilience of a hardened warrior. Ultimately death defeated her. In a sense it was not a defeat; one could say she bowed out.

She was at the peak of her political career, had complete control over her party and its cadre and was revered by millions who had been praying fervently for yet another victory for their Amma. That their Amma is not immortal is yet to sink in.