An often-asked question is as to who was the real hero in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? And the answer is that it is the Ghost of Caesar. So let it be with Amma! Through the chaos, confusion, crises and fracas of the last two weeks the one constant anchor was ‘Amma’s Aatma’. Naturally so. She strode the state like a Colossus. The void left by her was felt by one and all, be it her fanatical followers, admirers, detractors, political allies or foes!
The shoes of the Fisherman are filled with the one chosen by Cardinals locked in a room till they find the Papal successor! Her shoes were sought to be filled by an almost similar number of legislators locked in a beach resort! But being too large to be filled, little wonder the jostling, controversies, manipulations, alleged strong-arming that followed!
The events succeeding the death of this great leader involved many institutions—political, judicial, gubernatorial, public and of course, the voice of public opinion, the media—all their actions being critically appraised.
The politicians acted expectedly as politicians invariably do—seeing how the situation could best be exploited for their personal and party gains.
The public at large found grist for the mill of their discontent and distrust of the political class and institutions as a whole and used the occasion to vent grievances long felt through a diatribe at the current happenings.
The media found a topic sustainable over a week to boost TRPs and circulation, and promoted debates between vociferous, passionate and opinionated participants, whose main desire was for their voice and view to be heard to the exclusion of all others, and in the resulting cacophony be noticed by their friends and constituents.
The governor played a modern Pontius Pilate, washing his hands off what was happening and conveniently distancing himself physically from the state with the excuse of serious business to attend elsewhere—particulars of which were unknown, but included attending a Union minister’s son’s wedding and a university convocation!
The judiciary finally put a closure to a 21-year-old case by finding the main players in the Tamil Nadu drama guilty of corruption, thereby eliminating the prima donna and likely successor to the mantle of Amma from the fray. And, in one stroke appeared to solve the entire problem!
The judgment resulted in the succession issue being resolved through the nipping of Jayalalithaa’s emerging shadow before it loomed too large, and allowing the lesser minions to choose one amongst themselves to become the chief minister.
And in the process, vindicated the governor’s total inaction and abdication of his gubernatorial functions, rife with speculations as to his motives. And of course, gave a new lease of prime time life to the media with more days of high TRPs to look forward to. The public rejoiced at the majesty of law coming down heavily on the corrupt unmindful of their station in life, leaving the common man to hope that one day the menace of corruption, too, may pass!
But in the midst of the euphoria over the courts’ commitment to justice—while it reinforces the belief that the judiciary is the last hope in a society of falling standards—is one disturbing feature.
The indictment of the guilty, their incarceration ensuring their disassociation with public life over the next decade, has left in its wake a finding of Late Madam Jayalalithaa’s guilt. One can only imagine the public reaction and mayhem which would have ensued had she been alive and had to demit office on that score—at a time when she was at the zenith of her popularity and recognised as one of the greatest welfare chief ministers this country has known.
And that raises a troubling question! When corruption is a vice against the people, would punishment after 21 years of a person, who is now the public’s greatest benefactor, be justified? Undoubtedly, legally it would! But from the larger public interest, is it the best thing for the public at large? When the punishment for corruption is a punishment for a crime against the public, should it visit a person who 21 years later has become the very same public’s greatest supporter?
By the time the judgment was delivered, Amma was no more.When she left, the people of Tamil Nadu were grief-stricken at the departure of their greatest patron, rather than being enraged and dismayed at being robbed of their Amma’s munificence. Delayed justice in corruption cases can make the cure worse than the disease—avoided in this case through Fate’s intervention!
And now, let us empathise with the new chief minister. While Bharata only had to contend with Rama’s sandals on the throne, the giant presence of Amma’s Aatma looms over his!
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