J. Jayalalithaa
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Jayalalithaa Jayaram or J.Jayalalithaa (born February 24, 1948, Mysore) is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India (since March 2, 2002). She is also the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (a regional party in the state). This is the second term of her position as Chief Minister. She is popularly called "amma" (mother) by her followers.
She was born in Mysore to actress Sandhya. Prior to her venture into politics, she had a successful career in the Tamil film industry as an actor. Chinnada Gombe, her first film (in Kannada) was a major hit. Her first Telugu film Manushulu Mamathalu made her a superstar. In 1972, she was honored by the Tamil Nadu government with the award Kalaimamani.
In 1981, she joined the AIADMK and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1984 making her entry into the Parliament of India. Her association with politics grew from her relationship with M. G. Ramachandran, movie star and then Chief Minister. On M.G R's death she was alienated by a faction of the party who chose to support M.G R's wife Janaki Ramachandran. Drawing on her massive popularity and her image as the "wronged woman", in 1989 she was elected Tamil Nadu legislative assembly where she became the first woman to be elected Leader of the Opposition. The then ruling party, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - Dravidian People's Party), tried to assault her in assembly, and she reportedly took a oath to enter the assembly house only as chief minister. In 1991, she was re-elected to the legislative assembly and for the became the first elected woman chief minister of Tamil Nadu (Janaki Ramachandran was the first woman caretaker CM) serving the full tenure (June 24, 1991 - May 12, 1996). Due to an anti-incumbency wave and several allegations of corruption and malfeasance against her ministerial colleagues and against herself, she lost the power to the DMK in 1996 in a landslide, only to come back to power with a huge majority defying all predictions aired in the media and the exit polls in 2001.
Influence In the era of coalition politics she weilds tremendous influence with the central governments and has been a part of both the ruling and opposition allaince at some point of time. She was instrumental in toppling the Atal Bihari Vajpayee governemnt in 1998. Her political fortunes seem to have taken a downswing in the 2004 elections where her party was virtually wiped out in elections to the national parliament.
Corruption Charges On September 21, 2002[1] (http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/09/22/stories/01220001.htm), a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled in a unanimous verdict that "a person who is convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Ms.Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue". In effect her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister in the period between May 14, 2001 and September 21, 2001. She manged to circumvent this by appointing a puppet Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam until she returned to her post.
Major successes of her government
- Banning of High interest private loans
- Banning lottery tickets to encourage savings
- Elimination of the much feared bandit Veerappan.
- Introduction of Videoconferencing in Jails and Courts, thus eliminating the need to bring the accused to extend the remand every time.
Some of her mistakes were
- Anticonversion law - which she subsequently withdrew following the drubbing she had in 2004 Lok Sabha Elections
- H Ration Cards - subsequently withdrawn
- Cancelling the entrance exams for admission to professional courses
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Awards and Degrees
In 1991, the University of Madras honored her by conferring the degree of D. Litt. (Doctor of Literature). In 1992, the TN Dr. MGR medical university conferred the degree of Doctor of Science on her. In 1993, the Madurai Kamaraj University conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters on her. In 2003, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University conferred the degree of Doctor of Science on her and the Bharatidasan University conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters on her.
Trivia
- Closing salutation: Periyar namam vazhga, Anna naamam vazhga, Puratchi thalivar naamam vazhga
- A fervent believer in numerology she changed her name to the present one by adding an additional "a" to Jayalalitha. Her current name is Jayalalithaa.
- Earlier she was conspicious in her sarees when she often wore only a green coloured saree which symbolised her party's color. These days she prefers a blue color.
- Her command over her party MLAs is often parodied in media since there is excessive glorification and falling under her feet.
Conspiracy theories
According to some popular conspiracy theories, Jayalalithaa was a secret concubine of M. G. Ramachandran.
In fact M. G. Ramachandran the founder of AIADMK had a wife before he married Janaki (who also became a chief minister of Tamil Nadu after his death). His first wife (to whom he was very fond of) died very early. Because Jayalalitha resembled his First wife, MGR was attracted to her. This was very well potrayed by Mani Ratnam in his movie Iruvar where Aishwarya Rai played the dual role of MGR's first wife as well as Jayalalitha
It is also said that Miss Jayalalitha is also married to Telugu cine actor Shoban Babu and together have a daughter in Andhra Pradesh. Infact everytime Jayalalitha is on the verge of loosing an election and/or power a couple of vehicles are said to depart for her daughter's farmhouse in Hyderabad.
| Preceded by: O Panneerselvam (second time) | Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu | Followed by: |
External links
- Profile on website of Tamil Nadu Government (http://www.tn.gov.in/tnassembly/jjaya.htm)
- Profile at Nilacharal (http://www.nilacharal.com/enter/celeb/jayalalitha.html)
- Profile (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/318912.stm) by BBC (1999)
- BBC News article - Jayalalitha returns to power (dated March 2, 2002) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1850717.stm)
- rediff.com Special on J. Jayalalithaa (http://in.rediff.com/election/2004/may/06espec1.htm)
- BBC Hardtalk interview (http://www.bbc.co.uk/tamil/highlights/story/2004/09/040930_jayainterview.shtml)sv:Selvi J Jayalalithaa