The problem with people is they not only have short memory but they tend to remember only the last scene and not the entire episode.
Mohammad Azharuddin played some fantastic cricket for India, but unfortunately people remember him more for ‘fixing matches’ than the class batsman that he was. This is perhaps because the last scene of his cricketing career was all about ‘match fixing’. Even though the Indian courts have given him the clean chit, people’s memory finds it tough to erase the black spot in his career.
Similarly, in the case of J Jayalalithaa, especially after her untimely demise, many tend to think she was some kind of saint because of her populist measures, which, of course, stood her in good stead politically – the record-breaking back-to-back two Assembly election victories is a testimony to that. But there is certainly more to her than meets the eye.
Jayalalithaa had done commendable work for Tamil Nadu as a mass leader and chief minister, but honestly scanning through her political career one can’t deny she had a lot of faults and committed costly mistakes, which even cost her dear. But now that she’s gone, one doesn’t talk about them. The reason being – it is considered in poor taste to speak ill of the dead. Everyone is aware of her flaws, but few want to rake them up. It is the elephant in the room.
But in the sympathy wave one should not gloss over some home truths in her illustrious life that perhaps a die-hard Jayalalithaa fan would not feel at home reading them. But then that is legacy and history is all about.
Too much has been written about her enigmatic charisma or four-time chief ministership, or for that matter the voracious reader that she was, her knowledge, and her runaway-hit welfare schemes (from support for abandoned babies to free medicine) targeting the poor and the downtrodden. All these make good headlines.
But one should also know that the film star turned politician was convicted twice for corruption (for amassing wealth disproportionate to her income). The most unremarkable thing about her remarkable career was her poor record of atrocities against the lower castes. She allied with the dominant Thevar caste and looked the other way when the Dalits were maltreated by the upper caste. She was at the helm in 2011 when the Tamil Nadu police fired at a gathering in Ramanathpuram district, killing seven Dalit villagers. Except for setting up an inquiry commission, she did nothing to alleviate the caste tensions between the powerful Thevars and the Dalits.
Also, she did little to prevent young Dalit men getting involved with girls from higher castes from being hacked to death.
The Divya-Ilavarasan tragic love story is an example. On July 4, 2013, the body of Ilavarasan, a young Dalit boy, was found on a culvert adjoining the railway track in Dharmapuri, northern Tamil Nadu. Ilavarasan’s mistake was falling in love, and eloping and marrying Divya, who belonged to the higher, Vanniyar caste. In retaliation, hundreds of Dalit homes were set ablaze in Dharmapuri by the Vanniyars while an outnumbered police force stood by and watched. Ilavarasan’s killers have still not been convicted.
In early 2016 another Dalit boy, V Shankar, was hacked to death in full public view in Udhumalpet, a town in Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu, by his upper-caste in-laws. The entire chilling attack was captured on camera. His mistake too was marrying an upper caste girl, Kausalya, who is from the politically powerful Thevar caste. Thevars are a dominant community in Tamil Nadu and are known to be a strong support base for Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK.
Jayalalithaa could not take criticism of hers and her policies. She filed over 200 defamation cases against opponents (of the likes of Dr Subramanian Swamy) and journalists, sometimes only for denouncing her policies. Over a dozen cases were filed against The Times of India, The Hindu and others, forcing the Supreme Court to chastise her. “(You) can’t use defamation case(s) to throttle democracy. This is not done,” the apex court told Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa.
Finally, howsoever powerful Jayalalithaa might have been, both politically and financially, she could not escape the inevitable – death.
It has been said that death is the great equaliser. Certainly, it’s the one thing that none of us can escape, so in that regard, we’re all the same. Death does not spare anyone, not even the wealthy, famous, or talented. Jayalalithaa lived like a Queen and never settled for anything less but death is the great leveller and came to her the same as to everyone else.
