Personality cult not great for republic: HC on Jaya memorial

CHENNAI: Personality cults are not great for a republic or a country’s Constitution, the Madras high court observed on Thursday, while hearing a case on converting late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s residence in Chennai into a memorial.

From Mahatma Gandhi to William Shakespeare and Winston Churchilll, famous personalities from history were drawn into the virtual courtroom of chief justice Sanjib Banerjee and justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy.

They were hearing a petition filed by Jayalalithaa’s legal heir and nephew J Deepak against an act promulgated by the state government to convert her residence, Veda Nilayam, in Chennai’s Poes Garden into a memorial for the leader who died in December 2016..

“Personality cult is not something great for a republic... or Constitution,” Banerjee said when advocate general Vijay Narayan, appearing for the state government, spoke about the late leader’s personality, leadership and role in empowering women. Narayan also said that several governments had preserved the homes of eminent personalities after converting them into memorials.

When he mentioned Shakespeare’s home as an example, the chief justice countered that UK Prime Minister Churchill had no memorial to his name.

The court made an oral observation that there could be one memorial for Gandhi, one for Jawaharlal Nehru and one for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. “But if you keep extending it you would have memorials for deputy chief ministers also!”the judges remarked, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

The high court had allowed the Tamil Nadu government to proceed with the January 28 inauguration of Veda Nilayam as a memorial but did not allow public entry until further hearings on the case.

The court observed that it was constrained to allow the opening so that it does not cause difficulties to the government ,which had already made arrangements for the inauguration.

On January 27, the state government also inaugurated a Rs, 80-crore mausoleum for Jayalalithaa at her burial place on Chennai’s Marina beach.

The court agreed to the AG’S submission that Jayalalithaa had contributed greatly to Tamil Nadu, but said it can’t keep adding memorials.

“There are several judges who make contributions. What will happen if court space is used to put up statues,” asked Banerjee.

“There are already so many portraits in this chamber.” The next hearing in the case is after four weeks.