CHENNAI: The demise of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa would take the sheen off the floor of the Assembly where she had been a roaring lion pouncing on the Opposition Benches with prompt replies, retorts, questions and counter-questions, never hesitating to throw or accept challenges.
Even when she was in the Opposition, Jayalalithaa on occasions stormed into the House making members on the Treasury Benches anxious, since she had a history of tearing them apart on any issue, be it Cauvery River water row, Mullaiperiyar Dam, Katchatheevu or the attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen.
Known for throwing barbs, firing salvos and blunting the opposition’s charges with scathing criticism and witty responses, the late AIADMK chief never buckled under pressure.
For instance, a battery of charged up DMK members made 63 interventions when she spoke in the House on July 31, 2006. This shows the extent of resistance she faced from the Treasury Benches.
“It was a memorable experience for us. She was unstoppable even when the vocal DMK members tried to stop her by firing too many posers and sarcastic comments during her speech on that occasion. The former Chief Minister did stand tall and give it back,” recalled a senior official of the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
On the first day of February in 2008, Jayalalithaa, then the Leader of Opposition, made a surprise entry into the Assembly before winding up the discussion on the Governor’s Address.
Making a scathing attack on the DMK for allegedly compromising Tamil Nadu’s interests in the Cauvery issue, she tore into the party’s claim of forming an expert committee to pursue it. Jayalalithaa questioned the legal expertise of the members on the panel leaving the DMK members running for cover. Brushing aside their jibes, she went on to register her strong views on the issue.
Then there was the ferocious challenge she threw at DMDK founder Vijayakant during an acrimonious fight on the floor of the House in February, 2012. Rubbishing the DMDK’s claims that it did contribute to the victory in the 2011 Assembly elections as an alliance partner, Jayalalithaa dared Vijayakant to contest a bypoll due then and win the seat – Sankarankoil.
“It was one of the rare moments when our leader got provoked. She was unstoppable in attacking Vijayakant and his party members,” a senior AIADMK legislator recalled.
He noted that the angry Chief Minister even predicted the beginning of the end of the DMDK saying that good times for the party were over.
She did not even spare DMK treasurer MK Stalin. Once she teased him for being called as Thalapathy (army general) by his party colleagues. “People call him Thalapathy. But he is backtracking and hiding,” she ribbed.
However, she had never crossed the Lakshman Rekha of the rules and conventions of the House.
She remained unperturbed amid the pandemonium on her last day in the House on September 2 when the DMK members resorted to unrelenting slogan shouting after a barb from Jayalalithaa.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly is bound to miss her debating skills in the days to come.