Rumours on Jayalalithaa can wait another day
It is unfortunate that politics is being played over the illness of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa was admitted to a Chennai hospital 20 days ago and doctors said she was being treated for fever and dehydration. During these days, political leaders of various hues have been seeking to exploit the issue in petty ways. Rival DMK has demanded that a new Chief Minister or a “Chief Minister in-charge” be appointed for the “smooth running of the State's administration”. DMK supremo M Karunanidhi even sought the release of Jayalalithaa's photograph from the hospital as evidence that she was responding to the treatment. This was extremely improper. Party leader MK Stalin went to the hospital but could meet only the doctors attending to her.
The leader of a component of the People's Welfare Front has asked for a “democratic and transparent interim arrangement… in accordance with the Constitution” to handle the Chief Minister's absence. These are not so much voices of concern than they are opportunistic. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who recently visited the hospital to enquire into the Chief Minister's welfare, struck the right note when he said that it was improper to speculate on political matters when a person was being treated, and that everyone's concern should be that she gets well at the earliest and returns to her duties. Such has been the furore that a petition found its way in the Madras High Court seeking her health condition. The health scare has come at a crucial time, when Tamil Nadu is fighting it out with Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery river water. Demands coming from the opposition camp naturally upset the ruling AIADMK, which warned against trying a “coup” to oust the Chief Minister. To make matters worse, various Jayalalithaa-baiters across the political spectrum have indulged in speculation, with some saying that her condition is more serious than has been officially stated and that she could be flown out of the country for treatment.
While rumours, unfortunate as they may be, cannot be always contained, two factors have fuelled them. The first is that there was lack of clarity and transparency over the nature of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's ailment from the beginning. And the second is the absence of a hierarchical structure within the AIADMK that can clearly identify who the in-charge would be of the administration, in case the Chief Minister remains indisposed for an extended period of time. Take the first case. The public was initially told that she was being treated for fever and dehydration and would walk out of the hospital soon. later on, the hospital's medical bulletin said that the “current treatment plan” included “appropriate antibiotics and other allied clinical measures”. This kicked off rumours that Jayalalithaa was on ventilator support. While a certain level of information management happens, it must not seem dodgy.
The second has to do with the problem that one-leader parties face; if that leader is for some reason out of the reckoning, there is chaos. It had been true of the DMK, until Stalin was anointed Karunanidhi's successor. But Jayalalithaa is the supremo of the AIADMK with no second-in-command. This has led to both confusion and kite-flying.