People outside Tamil Nadu may treat it as incredible. But the fact is that 193 persons committed suicide since September 27 following the conviction and sentencing of AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa by the special court in Bangalore in connection with the disproportionate wealth case filed against her by senior BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy. There is every chance of the 193 suicides finding their way to the Guinness Book of World Record as no other single incident has led to this many suicides anywhere in the world.
Though the AIADMK media cell has been sending details about the number of people ending their lives following the conviction of their Amma by the special court, the news got ‘official’ ratification on Sunday with Jayalalithaa herself issuing a statement expressing her shock and grief over the deaths.The AIADMK boss said the party would offer Rs3 lakh to the next kit and kin of each of the 193 deceased persons while three party workers who failed in their attempts to end their lives would be offered Rs50,000. Jayalalithaa said in the statement that she was left wordless to describe what she felt after hearing the news. She also asked party cadre to restrain themselves from taking extreme measures.
“Please do not get upset by what you hear and read in newspapers. We have to wage a long battle for the final victory and please remember that we will prevail in this war,” Jayalalithaa said in the statement.She said late MGR, the founder of the AIADMK, entrusted the party to her with the directive to look after the party cadre and their families. “I will never let my leader down and will sacrifice my life for you,” said Jayalalithaa.
The AIADMK maintains a party fund to take care of the families of party workers who die or suffer casualties in the course of their duties. The party fund is mobilised at the time of election from aspirants who want to contest on AIADMK symbols to the Assembly and parliament. Those seeking to contest in the Assembly election has to submit their application with a non-refundable fee of Rs25,000 while those desirous of contesting the lok Sabha election have to remit Rs50,000 along with the application form. The cash, thus, collected goes to the central fund of the party. Recently, the election to the post of the party general secretary hogged the limelight as a record number of 2,457 nomination papers were submitted in the name of Jayalalithaa by the party cadre. Each nomination paper was accompanied by an application fee of Rs25,000. Though there were no other challengers for the post of general secretary, the party got richer by Rs6.16 crore.