Being Jayalalithaa: From lonely beginnings, she scripted her own fairytale rise to power

Mangalore Today News Network

Tamil nadu, Dec 06, 2016: When thinking of J Jayalalithaa’s life, the image that flashes first is from a Tamil Nadu Assembly session on March 25, 1989. The Opposition leader then, she was physically attacked by members of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, right before the speaker’s eyes and at the provocation of M Karunanidhi, who was chief minister at the time. She came out of the Assembly with her sari torn. That incident generated a massive sympathy wave for Jayalalithaa.

In Tamil Nadu, the creation of a leader and the amount of trust the voters place on them is purely a function of the grudge they bear against the ruling party. The only two exceptions to this rule were K Kamaraj of the Congress and MG Ramachandran.

In that way, Jayalalithaa owes a lot of her initial popularity to Karunanidhi. The other reason why she captured a firm place in the minds of people were the events in the immediate aftermath of MGR’s death in December 1987. For several hours after her mentor’s death, she was the only person to be seen standing beside MGR’s body. Millions of people watched those images on television. However, she was later literally kicked out of the open-top hearse.