The iconic journey of a revered leader

Through her keen political acumen and leadership qualities, Jayalalithaa Jayaram transformed herself from a soft-spoken actor to one of India’s most powerful politicians.

CHENNAI: She was a rank outsider in Tamil Nadu’s male-dominated politics, a woman dismissed by critics as a mere actress and a Brahmin leader in a state where anti-caste Dravidian ideology held sway.

But through her keen political acumen and leadership qualities — dictatorial tendencies to her critics — Jayalalithaa Jayaram transformed herself from a softspoken actor to one of India’s most-powerful politicians feared and revered in equal measure.

Under India’s governance system, the prime minister and chief ministers are those supposed to be the “first among equals”. “But with her, she was only the first and there were no equals,” says political analyst Ramu Manivannan. This was her style of functioning — whether running the party or government — that won her a loyal following of millions, who were ready to even kill themselves for her well-being.

Her death at Chennai’s Apollo hospital on Monday night here left an unmatched legacy. No other leader in contemporary Tamil Nadu politics combined charisma with benevolence to form a powerful brand that straddled three decades and left a deep imprint on the psyche of the people.

She was a six-time chief minister, a Brahmin leader of a Dravidian party and a nononsense administrator. She was also a voracious reader who changed from an often-emotional leader — she famously vowed to never return to the TN assembly unless elected CM after her sari was torn by DMK leaders — to a strong but impassive figure. But as is the case with most powerful leaders and personality-driven parties, Jayalalithaa allowed herself to be guided by a small coterie, comprising her longtime companion Sasikala and her family, who wielded influence over government machinery.

The 68-year-old was brought into politics in the late 1980s by legendary movie star and then chief minister, MG Ramachandran, better known as MGR, with whom she starred in more than 100 films. Three years after MGR’s death in December 1987, she took over his All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, galvanising the support of the rural poor to win the 1991 elections.

But over the next two decades, she surpassed her mentor, MGR, in terms of popularity and achievements. She successfully built Brand Amma, under the umbrella of which she launched all her outreach welfare programmes for the poor — Amma canteens, Amma pharmacies, Amma drinking water, Amma cement, Amma vegetables, and touched almost every activity of life, further endearing herself to the masses.

But with no succession plan in place and the absence of a second rung, the ruling AIADMK could be battling for existence in the state it has ruled alternatively with the DMK for almost 50 years.