So long, Iron Lady of the South

On Tuesday, India paid her last respects to one of her most successful and powerful politicians, J Jayalalithaa, as the actress-turned-politician was laid to rest in Chennai a day after she passed away. Jayalalithaa, also known as the Iron Lady of Tamil Nadu, had served as the chief minister of her state for five terms, a feat that clearly speaks volumes of undisputed leadership quality. Much has been said and written, and still is, about the charismatic revolutionary leader following her sudden demise. Despite numerous controversies and corruption charges against her, Jayalalithaa has had a successful political career, to the extent of enjoying a cult-like following in her state attributable to her populist approach. She has to her credit, about 140 films between 1961 to 1980 in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries. She entered into politics in 1982 by joining the AIADMK, a party formed by fellow co-star and mentor, MG Ramachandran (MGR), a Tamil icon who had leveraged his popularity with the masses into a strong political career. It is said that she had risen rapidly in her political career partly due to her oratory skills. In fact, her maiden public speech, delivered in the lines of ‘the Greatness of a Woman’, is also fondly recalled now by her followers, and women in general. Defying odds, Jayalalithaa had, in 1991, by being elected chief minister of the patriarchal state, also became the youngest to occupy the seat. She was known for maintaining a punishing work ethic and for centralising state power among a coterie of bureaucrats. During her tenure as the chief minister for the fourth time, a trial court had convicted her in a disproportionate assets case in 2014, rendering her disqualified to hold office, and she was jailed for twenty days. Later, she was acquitted of all charges by the Karnataka High Court and was once again sworn-in as chief minister in May 2015. In the 2016 assembly elections, she became the first Tamil Nadu chief minister since MGR to be voted back into office. She was considered a strong-willed politician, who, with impeccable oratory skills commanded her party to the status that it holds today. Her leadership capacity was once again exhibited in 2014 when her party routed rivals by winning 37 out of 39 seats in the Lok Sabha. An indication of a connection between the Iron Lady of the South and the Northeast was displayed when she had openly come out to support the candidature of late PA Sangma in the 2012 Presidential election. AIADMK was one of the parties that proposed Sangma’s candidature. Closer home in Nagaland, while we are fighting tooth and nail for a mere 33 percent reservation for women, that too, for municipal bodies, let us pause and learn something from the life of the Iron Lady of the South. That she had stood up to become not just a public figure but a chief minister for five terms in an otherwise patriarchal society, without the aid of reservation, is an inspiring exemplar. Her death is not just a big loss for the country, but more so for women and feminists across the country. It is not a surprise that despite huge differences and bitter rivalries, people, particularly Tamils, cutting across party or ism lines, came together in her death to bid their respectful goodbyes to the revolutionary leader. It will yet take some time to see someone like Jayalalithaa in the political scene anywhere in the country. So long, Iron Lady of the South. You are a legend.