Letters: Orphaned by Jaya death

 Apropos the report by T E Narasimhan and Gireesh Babu, “Jayalalithaa dead at 68: How Komalavalli became the ‘Iron Lady’ of Tamil Nadu” (December 6), the film-star-turned-politician was a reluctant entrant to both fields.
 
In an interview she had said: “I hate cinema, but my mother forced me into film; I hate politics, but MGR forced me into politics. Still I hate politics.” But she proved her merit in both the fields. Especially in politics, she proved to be a natural leader and controlled the AIADMK with an iron hand.
 
Her political life was full of turmoil. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1984. She was kicked and pulled down from the gun-carriage carrying MGR’s mortal remains by actor Deepan, the son of the younger brother of Janaki Ramachandran. But Jayalalithaa put up a courageous fight and proved that in a democracy a successor to a political legacy is decided by the people not heredity. She became Tamil Nadu’s youngest chief minister in 1991.

 

Jayalalithaa passed through her most traumatic phase when she first went to jail in December 1996. She decided to quit politics. But her indomitable fighting spirit did not allow her to give up.
 
Although she faced charges of corruption, her popularity among the people, especially women, was arguably every politician’s envy. With her 18 populist schemes her popularity touched the sky. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that her death has made the people of Tamil Nadu orphans almost.
 
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