J Jayalalithaa, leading light of Tamil Nadu politics and a force to reckon with in national politics, steered the destinies of the Tamil people for three decades and before that ruled the hearts of film fans in the South for 20 years. If that were not enough, she had several other facets to her personality. An acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer, she was a polyglot who could express herself with great felicity in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, English and Hindi while being at ease with Malayalam as well. She was a voracious reader and a good writer who wrote four full-length novels, many short stories and articles. She had a nuanced understanding of even sports, and a whole bouquet of them: cricket (her favourite player was Nari Contractor), tennis, swimming, horse riding, basketball, chess and athletics. Among the other talents she kept aside while in pursuit of a career in films and politics was playback singing, which she did sporadically in the 1970s.
The thread that ran through all these varied endeavours was a luminous intellect that sprang forth from a sensitive heart. And if by the end of a lifetime her stature in the national consciousness grew to titanic proportions, it was because she used her formidable faculties to learn fortitude. It was a quality that gave her serenity in the face of adversity and gave hope to her followers. The lesser of her qualities was that she commanded the tides of Tamil politics; the greater was that she won the belief of the people who invited her into their hearts as Amma. As might be expected of a person blessed with both intellect and fortitude, her entry into politics was spectacular, presaging a career of many firsts. She was the first woman leader of the opposition in Tamil Nadu and later the youngest Chief Minister of the State. During her six stints as the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa launched many innovative initiatives. She was also unique in leading a party steeped in the Dravidian movement while belonging to the Brahmin community herself. Her acceptance among the 1.5 crore party cadres was such that at no point was that a stumbling block to her governance.
Although not a trained actress, Jayalalithaa was a virtuoso in the cinematic arts when her political career began. After reigning as a leading lady in 28 films alongside Dr. M G Ramachandran, she was invited by the matinee idol and Chief Minister to join his party in 1982. A spectacular debut led to a meteoric rise in politics although her path was strewn with many thorns. She overcame them all with sheer guts. Within a year of joining the AIADMK, Jayalalithaa was appointed the propaganda secretary of the party. And a month later, she was given a prestigious assignment: leading the party’s campaign in the by-election to the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency. She came through that test with outstanding credit. But as her influence increased, senior leaders in the party started growing envious of the importance given to her. But they were all to fall by the wayside. Just as she electrified politics in Tamil Nadu within months of her debut, she attracted national attention after being elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1984. It is said that Dr MGR believed that her fluency in English and Hindi would be useful in presenting Tamil Nadu’s case in Parliament.
While it achieved that purpose, what was remarkable was that the first-time MP spoke with such ease and composure on state as well as national issues that she won praise from the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Despite the reservations of party seniors, Dr MGR was steadfast in his support of her. At the conference of the All World MGR Fans Association held in Madurai in 1986, he presented her a sceptre (‘sengol’) which signaled to the party laity that she would be his political heir. Jayalalithaa was a star of the Rajya Sabha until 1989 but was propelled into the politics of Tamil Nadu by the demise of Dr MGR in December 1987. The AIADMK split in the months after the Chief Minister’s passing, and one faction of it rallied around Jayalalithaa. The party won 26 seats and she was herself elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Bodinaickanur constituency and became the first woman leader of the Opposition.
In February 1989, the two factions of the AIADMK reunited under her leadership and she was unanimously elected the general secretary of the party. In the same year, she restored the Two Leaves symbol to the party. In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, she steered the AIADMK- Congress alliance to a historic victory in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In the 1991 Assembly elections held in the aftermath of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she decimated the ruling DMK and steered the AIADMK-led alliance to victory in 225 constituencies out of 234. Subsequently, she ensured a historic 100 per cent victory for the AIADMK and its alliance in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections by winning all 40 seats.
Fighting spirit, her defining trait in politics, helped her party wrest power thrice. When the AIADMK was routed in the 1996 elections with just four seats, her hard work for the next five years brought the party back to power in 2001. Again, when the party lost the 2006 elections, she made the AIADMK a formidable opposition party and took it back to power again with a thumping majority in the April 2011 elections. In the following local body elections, her party attained another peak, registering an all-time high without any alliance. Of the 20,000 posts for which elections were held, the ruling AIADMK bagged over 9,600 posts, including 10 corporations, 89 municipalities and 285 town panchayats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, once again without any alliance, she ensured that the AIADMK got 37 of the 39 parliamentary constituencies. And in the 2016 Assembly elections, Jayalalithaa created another record for the AIADMK by retaining power for a consecutive second term after a gap of 32 years.