Iron Lady of Tamil Nadu
Jayalalithaa was a Chief Minister who fought for the
rights of her State. India has lost a leader who played a vital role in the
shaping of Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa owed her success in politics to her film-world association with M.G.
Ramachandran, the founder of the AIADMK. She became Chief Minister in 1991.
Jayalalithaa targeted the weaker sections, the rural
peasants and the unorganised workers through food subsidies and social welfare
schemes. She took a strong stand on issues such as Cauvery, forcing the Centre
to toe her line.
She was written off after receiving a drubbing in the
1996 Assembly election but Jayalalithaa reinvented her political career swiftly and effectively. Her political successes were challenged by
legal setbacks. Jayalalithaa was unseated twice: in 2001 and 2014. But both the
times, she was back as Chief Minister in a short time.
Her most remarkable wins in the 2016 Assembly election
was follow up on her 2014 Lok Sabha win. Like MGR before her, Jayalalithaa commanded the unflinching loyalty,
even adulation, of her party supporters. With very less appearance in media she was successful by establishing
direct connect with the people. This is her greatest achievement.
She had the power and the capacity to hold the party
tightly together. True, the corruption issue was there. But which government in
India is free from it? The state's reputation as a forward state remains
unsullied. Hats off to her for that!
Jayalalitha can't be evaluated only by her political
ups and downs, but also by a slew of welfare schemes. The schemes such as amma
laptops to students, amma health facilities, amma mineral water and amma
canteen are known to everyone. She was known as Mother of Welfare. Welfare
schemes placed the Tamilians in better living condition.
Coming out from the shadow of MGR, Jayalalitha had
carved out a niche for herself. She had not only grown as a courageous leader,
but also a challenging politician in times of precarious conditions especially
after the demise of MGR. Her popularity never faded as can be seen in the
tumultuous crowds thronging the streets to have a glimpse of her last rites.
JJ was a great lady who took every adversity as an
opportunity and fought her way back to success. She overcame so many opposite
conditions in the present context of Indian and more specifically Tamil
political scene. A woman from a traditional Brahmin family without any
political roots fighting against experienced and wily politician like
Karunanidhi in anti Brahmin Dravidian polity of TN, she became Chief Minister
not once but till the end and she deserves a great tribute from all right
thinking people.
Jayalalithaa's
spectacular achievement was her electoral victory in the LS polls of 2014 that
sent 38 MPS from her party out of the 39 seats her party contested on its own.
This made AIADMK as the third largest party in the LS and enhanced the party's
national stature as a big force to reckon with in India's growth.
The void created by her demise in the state and India
is difficult to be filled. Her end is truly
an end of an era for Tamil Nadu. Beauty with brain and determination is a gift
of Jaya. She is indeed a role model for young girls.
She took over when India had just liberalised the
economy. Her drive and ability to mobilise infrastructure laid the foundations
for rapid expansion of automotive industry in the state. During the tenure from
2011 to 16, she was able to redress the energy crisis by adding more than 5000
MW of power capacity. She was an able administrator. Talented bureaucrats had
relative freedom under her regime in terms of law and order, social
infrastructure, roads, the lead Tamil Nadu has over other states.
The Iron lady who all the way tendered a pro people
government with all the welfare measures is now laid to rest.
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