It has been eight years since Jayalalithaa Jayaram breathed her last becoming the second chief minister of Tamil Nadu to die in office. The factors that led to the demise of Jayalalithaa remain a mystery despite a commission of inquiry probing the same for more than five years. It is not known how many among the AIADMK leadership are aware of the findings of the A Arumughaswamy Commission which submitted its report in August 2022.
The Pioneer was the first newspaper in the country to predict that with the death of Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK would become a part of history. With dozens of leaders belonging to the Thevar, Vanniyar and Gaunder communities pulling the party in different directions, the AIADMK, Tamil Nadu’s largest political party ended up in groups, sub-groups headed by families and local chieftains. Jayalalithaa who led the party to impressive victories in 2011 and 2016 assembly elections and 2014 Lok Sabha polls ensured that the party reached an unassailable position.
Though there was deterioration in her health after the 2016 assembly election, neither her aides or party subordinates took any interest in admitting her to a hospital. She was seen shivering and struggling to take even a step during the Independence Day Flag Hoisting Ceremony at Fort Saint George (Tamil Nadu’ seat of power). She was admitted to a corporate hospital in Chennai on 22nd September 2016 where she passed away around 11.30 pm on 5th December 2016.
O Panneerselvam succeeded Amma (as Jayalalithaa was addressed by party cadres and followers) and he was ousted within two months through a palace coup staged by her close aide V K Sasikala and her nephews.
Stage was set in for the swearing in of Sasikala as chief minister on 14th February 2017. But the Supreme Court order upholding the Parappana Agrahara special court verdict which had sentenced Jayalalithaa and Sasikala for four years rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate asset case. Since Jayalalithaa was no more, Sasikala and her two relatives, who were the co-accused had to undergo the imprisonment.
On the day she was to sworn in as chief minister, Sasikala’s cavalcade rushed to the Bangalore jail and surrendered before the IG (prisons). Before leaving for serving her jail term, Sasikala had anointed Edappadi Palaniswamy as chief minister. But within months, TTV Dhinakaran, her nephew who had successfully infiltrated into Veda Nilayam (Jaya’s palatial building in Poes Garden) launched his mission to overthrow Palaniswamy and appoint himself as chief minister. That attempt failed and the disintegration of AIADMK commenced on the 45th year of its launching. What Tamil Nadu saw after Jayalalalithaa’s demise was the withering away of the AIADMK while the DMK became a rallying point.
Jayalalithaa’s first tenure as chief minister wad enmeshed in corruption while her subsequent tenures (2001-2006 and 2011-2016 did not throw out any corruption charges. The male chauvinistic Dravidian parties could not digest the fact that a woman could speak chaste English, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada. It was Jayalalithaa who taught the north Indian politicians some basic rules of the game.
Brand Amma became a household name by the time she was hospitalized. With her passing away, the second rung leadership went astray and the AIADMK is in deep trouble from which the party is unlikely to get out.
