CHENNAI:Former Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan could have very well made the announcement on her quitting the Congress in New Delhi than in Chennai. For, it is not just the Tamil Nadu Congress cadre who see her more as a national politician, despite the fact that she hails from the State and also happens to be the granddaughter of former chief minister C Bhaktavatsalam, even the common people do not relate to her as a local leader.
She had never contested an election, reaching out to the masses for votes with the help of local party workers, as all her three Parliamentary stints were in the Rajya Sabha, starting from 1986.
It was a different matter that her’s was a prominent face of the Congress on English television channels and other public fora. She even wrote articles on a wide range of subjects articulating her party’s views, and was eloquent, which perhaps earned her the party spokesperson’s post. But she never had an independent following in the State unlike other leaders, who led factions in Tamil Nadu Congress that invariably has countless groups.
Despite being a spokesperson of the Congress and holding fort with mediapersons in Delhi, she never hogged the media limelight in Tamil Nadu as much as she did on Friday, when she announced her decision to walk out of the party. While she did address many a public event, there was always another important leader to dominate the proceedings, thus depriving her of being the prima donna of that stage.
Yet she served two terms as Union minister - one during the United Front regime as a TMC member and then in UPA rule - because her talents were recognised by top leaders. In fact, it was Rajiv Gandhi who first identified and launched her political career. She was at the Sriperumbudur rally, walking alongside Rajiv minutes before he was assassinated by a human bomb.
Then, she was also so close to G K Moopanar that she walked out of the Congress along with him in 1996 and thus managed to get her first ministerial berth and prove her mettle as an proficient minister.
Despite being the most eloquent and well read woman Congress leader from the State, she failed to inspire the members of the women’s wing of the party or for the matter any wing and emerge as a leader on her own right. And it is that lack of grassroots support that has left none in the party mourning over her decision to quit.
TNCC president E V K S Elangovan’s statement that her exit will not affect the party in anyway shows how such a efficient leader had been growing in the organisation without any following.
But then, that is the State of affairs in the Congress itself. It is a party with more leaders than followers and supporters.