Jayalalithaa Jayaram (English: Jayalalithaa Jayaram, born: 24 February, 1948, Mysore; died: 5 December, 2016, Chennai) Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She was a famous leader of the party. She was also an actress in Tamil films. By giving a befitting reply to every struggle of life, ‘Amma’ i.e. Jayalalitha became the symbol of women power.
Jayalalitha was born on 24 February 1948 in Mysore.[1] He was born in an ‘Iyer family’ in Melurkot village of Pandavpur taluka of Mandya district. His father’s name was Jayaram Vedavalli and mother’s name was Vedavati. Jayalalitha received her early education at Church Park Convent School and Bishop Cotton Girls’ School. She received her higher education from Church Park Presentation Convent and Stella Maris College, Chennai. Jayalalitha’s father Jayaram passed away when she was just 2 years old, leaving her alone with her mother. After this, the period of poverty and deprivation began, which made Jayalalitha so strong that she was completely successful in keeping herself comfortable even in adverse circumstances. A threat to the opposition and known as ‘Amma’ among her fans, Jayalalitha charted her own path.[2]
Jayalalitha turned to films at the age of just 15 to support her family. He started his film career as a child artiste. In 1964, Jayalalitha got the lead role in the Kannada film ‘Chinnada Gombe’. Jayalalitha also worked in Hindi, Kannada and English films. He started his film career with renowned director Sridhar’s film ‘Venniradai’ and worked in about 300 films. Apart from Tamil, he also worked in Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films.
In 1965, Jayalalitha worked in a Tamil film, which proved to be a big hit. In the same year he M.G. Also worked with Ramachandran. M.G. Ramachandran has also been the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and also became the political mentor of Jayalalitha. During the period from 1965 to 1972, he did most of the films of M.G. Did it with Ramachandran. In 1970, under pressure from party people, M.G. R also started working with other actresses. Jayalalitha also started doing films with other actors. Both of them did not do any film together for about 10 years. In 1973, Jayalalitha and M.G. R’s pair was seen for the last time. In all, both of them worked together in 28 films. In 1980 he acted in his last Tamil film.[3]
Jayalalitha, famous for taking difficult and tough decisions within the party and while in the government, is also called the ‘Iron Lady’ of Tamil Nadu and ‘Margaret Thatcher’ of Tamil Nadu. After the death of her father at an early age, Jayalalithaa was raised by former actor and leader M.G. Ramachandran entered politics in 1982. In the same year he joined AIADMK. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on the ticket of and after that she did not look back.[4]
Jayalalitha had a long clash with her arch rival M. Karunanidhi, leader of the Dravidian movement, on the anti-Brahmin platform. Her formal entry into politics began in 1982 when she joined the AIADMK. In the year 1987, M.G. After the death of Ramachandran, the responsibility of running the party fell on his shoulders and he displayed great political acumen. 68-year-old Jayalalithaa had to step down twice in corruption cases, but on both occasions she managed to make a dramatic comeback. His debut in politics came in 1982, after which MGR made him publicity secretary the following year. Ramachandran has
After the death of Ramachandran in 1987, she came forward openly in politics, but there was a split in AIADMK. MGR’s body was lying in the historic Rajaji Hall and a DMK leader tried to remove him from the stage. The AIADMK party later split into two factions, called ‘AIADMK J’ and ‘AIADMK Ja’ after Jayalalitha and Ramachandran’s wife Janaki. Senior minister in MGR cabinet R. Due to the camp of leaders like M. Veerappan, there was a hurdle in the way of becoming the undisputed head of AIADMK and she had to face a fierce struggle. He united the AIADMK, which was divided after the death of Ramachandran, in 1990 and gave it a strong majority in 1991.[5] Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 and only after this, Jayalalitha formed an alliance with the Congress in the elections, which benefited her. DMK among the people There was tremendous anger towards LTTE because people considered him a supporter of LTTE. After becoming the Chief Minister, Jayalalitha had requested to ban LTTE, which was accepted by the Central Government.[4]
Jayalalitha won the 1989 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections from Bodinayakannur and became the first woman opposition leader in the House. During this period, there was some change in political and personal life, when Jayalalitha alleged that the ruling DMK attacked and harassed her. However, during his five-year tenure, he lost power to his arch-rival DMK in 1996 due to allegations of corruption, grandstanding at his adopted son’s wedding and poor performance as per expectations. Subsequently, several cases including assets beyond known sources of income were filed against him. He had to step down twice following court cases – first in 2001 and second in 2014.
efficiency
When Jayalalitha came to power again in 2001, she banned lottery tickets. Due to going on strike, two lakh employees were fired together, free electricity to farmers was banned, price of rice was increased in ration shops, ration cards of those earning more than Rs 5000 were rejected, that’s it. Increased fares and banned animal sacrifice in temples. But after losing badly in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he allowed animal sacrifice and free electricity to farmers was also restored. He did not like his criticism at all and because of this he filed defamation cases against many newspapers.[4]
The two heroes of M.G. The mutual relations between Ramachandran (MGR) and Jayalalitha were always a topic of discussion. MGR was Jayalalitha’s mentor in the film world and her guru in politics. MGR was very fond of Jayalalitha and he took every care of her. Once during the shooting of a film, Jayalalitha was barefoot and her feet started burning due to the strong sunlight, so MGR carried her in his lap to the car to save her from the pain.
Later, while mentioning this incident in one of her interviews, Jayalalitha had said that – “MGR used to play the role of hero many times in real life also.”
The incident took place when Jayalalitha was shooting with MGR for the film ‘Adimayappan’ in the Thar desert. She was playing the role of a slave girl in the film, so she had to shoot barefoot. Since everyone else on the film set was wearing shoes, no one realized that the sand had started heating up as the sun increased. After a few hours, the sand became so hot that Jayalalitha’s feet started burning badly. No member of the film unit paid attention to this, but MGR sensed that Jayalalitha’s feet were burning due to sand. He immediately asked to pack up the shooting of the film. Vasanti, who has written Jayalalitha’s biography “Amma: Jayalalitha’s Journey from Movies Star to Political Queen”, has mentioned this incident in her book. Jayalalitha’s troubles did not end here. His car was parked at a short distance from the shooting site. She started walking to the car with her bare feet on the hot sand, but gradually the burning sensation became beyond her tolerance and she felt as if she would get dizzy and fall down. Jayalalitha later recalled the incident during an interview and said, “It was like going through hell.” This time also MGR understood Jayalalitha’s condition and without saying a word, he picked her up in his lap and took her to the car. Jayalalitha had said in her interview – “I was not able to take a step. I was about to fall. I did not even say a word, but MGR must have understood my record. He suddenly came from behind and took me in his arms. Took it up. He used to play the role of hero in real life also.”[6]
Jayalalitha died on 5 December 2016 in Chennai. He breathed his last at 11:30 pm on Monday. Jayalalitha’s condition was critical after she suffered cardiac arrest. She was hospitalized for about two months and was undergoing treatment.
Unlike other Dravidian leaders, Jayalalitha had complete faith in God. She prayed regularly and also applied tilak on her forehead like people of the Iyengar community. Despite this, the Tamil Nadu government and Sasikala family decided to bury his body instead of cremating it as per Hindu customs. Jayalalitha’s body was taken to M.G. Buried along with the Samadhi of Ramachandran. According to a state government official, “Jayalalitha was not an Iyengar for us. She was above any caste or religion. Before her, most of the Dravidian leaders, including Periyar, Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran, have been buried. We We cannot consign anyone to the flames. We want to remember him as a memorial. Therefore, it was decided to bury his body with sandalwood and rose water.”[10]
