Jayalalithaa Jayaram (born 24 February 1948), commonly referred to as Jayalalithaa, is an Indian politician and the Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She faced disqualification from holding office due to Disproportionate Assets case on 27th September, 2014 . Previously she served as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, briefly in 2001, and from 2002 to 2006. She was a popular film star in Indian cinema before her entry into politics, having appeared as the lead heroine in over 140 films which includes films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and worked in one Hindi film. She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She is called 'Amma' ('Mother') and sometimes 'Puratchi Thalaivi' ('Revolutionary Leader') by her followers.
Although there have been claims that Jayalalithaa was introduced to politics by M. G. Ramachandran, she has denied this. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha elected from Tamil Nadu during 1984–89. Soon after the death of Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir. She is the second elected female chief minister of Tamil Nadu, first been Janaki Ramachandran.
Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948, at Melukote, in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Mysore State (now Karnataka) to Jayaram and Vedavalli in an Iyengar family. Her grandfather was in the service of the Mysore kingdom as a surgeon, and the prefix 'Jaya' ('the victorious') was added to the names of various family members to reflect their association with Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore. Her mother called her Komalavalli.
Jayalalithaa's father died when she was two years old. Her mother then moved to Bangalore, where her parents lived, with Jayalalithaa. Her mother eventually began to work as an actress in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai, having taken the screen name of Sandhya. While in Bangalore, Jayalalithaa attended Bishop Cotton Girls' School. She completed her childhood education at Sacred Heart Matriculation School (popularly known as Church Park Presentation Convent or Presentation Church Park Convent) in Chennai. She excelled at school and was offered a government scholarship to pursue further education. She appears not to have accepted the admission offered to her at Stella Maris College, Chennai. She is fluent in several languages, including Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and English.
Her mother persuaded her to work in films when Jayalalithaa was 15 years old and was still in school, taking assurances from producers that shooting would take place only during summer vacations and that she would not miss her classes. Jayalalithaa acted in an English language film, Epistle, released in 1961. She made her debut as the lead actress in Kannada films while still in school, age 15, in Chinnada Gombe (1964). Jayalalithaa's debut in Tamil cinema was a role in Vennira Aadai (1965), directed by C. V. Sridhar. The following year, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with Manushulu Mamathalu. She was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films. She acted in one Hindi film called Izzat, with Dharmendra as her male costar in 1968.
In 1972, Jayalalithaa acted in Pattikada Pattanama opposite Sivaji Ganesan, which went onto win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil in 1973. It fetched her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her performance in Suryakanthi and Chandradhoyam were critically acclaimed and the former won her another Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1973. The same year she acted in the Telugu Sri Krishna Satya and won her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her other films with Sivaji Ganesan include Galatta Kalyanam and Deiva Magan. Deiva Magan holds the distinction of being the first Tamil film to be submitted by India for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She continued pairing up with younger actors such as Ravichandran and Jaishankar in a number of films such as Vairam, Baghdad Perazhagi. Later Tamil films in which she acted included Kandan Karunai. Her last film was Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal which was released in 1980. During the 1960s and 1970s, she starred opposite M. G. Ramachandran in a number of successful films, including Aayirathil Oruvan, Kavalkaran, Adimai Penn, Engal Thangam, Kudiyirundha Koyil, Ragasiya Police 115 and Nam Naadu. Although there have been claims that Ramachandran, who had been chief minister for the state since 1977, was instrumental in introducing Jayalalithaa to politics, she has denied it. In 1982, she joined the AIADMK, which was founded by Ramachandran. Her maiden public speech, Pennin Perumai (the Greatness of a Woman), was delivered at the political conference of the AIADMK that year. In 1983, she became propaganda secretary for the party and was selected as AIADMK candidate in the by-election for the Tiruchendur Assembly constituency.
Ramachandran wanted her to be a member of the Rajya Sabha because of her fluency in English. Jayalalithaa was nominated and elected to that body as a Member of Parliament in 1984 and retained her seat until 1989. She was successful in her role as Propaganda Secretary and this caused resentment among high-ranking members of the party. Those members engineered a rift between her and Ramachandran, among the alleged consequences of which was that Ramachandran stopped Jayalalithaa writing about her personal life in a Tamil magazine. Despite these machinations, she remained admired by the rank and file of the party.
In 1984, when Ramachandran was incapacitated due to a stroke, Jayalalithaa was said to have attempted to take over the position of chief minister or the party on the pretext that his health would prevent him from the proper execution of his duties. She successfully led the campaign in the 1984 general elections, in which the ADMK allied with the Congress.
Ramachandran died in 1987 and following this the AIADMK split into two factions, with one section supporting his widow, Janaki Ramachandran, and the other favouring Jayalalithaa. Janaki was selected as the Chief Minister on 7 January 1988 with the support of 96 members and she won the confidence motion in the house, following irregularities by the speaker P.H. Pandian, who dismissed six members to ease her victory. However, the Indian CentralGovernment under Rajiv Gandhi used Article 356 of the Constitution of India to dismiss the Janaki-led government and impose President's rule on the State.
Jayalalithaa fought the subsequent 1989 elections on the basis of being MGR's political heir.
She was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1989 as a representative of the Bodinayakkanur (State Assembly Constituency). This election saw the Jayalalithaa-led faction of the AIADMK win 27 seats and Jayalalithaa became the first woman to be elected Leader of the Opposition. In February 1989, the two factions of ADMK merged and they unanimously accepted Jayalalithaa as their leader and the "Two leaves" symbol of the party was restored. On 25 March 1989, quoted as one of the worst incidents to have happened in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, there was heavy violence inside the house among the ruling DMK party members and the opposition. There were Jayalilatha tearing the budget report to be read by the ruling party. Mikes were broken and shoes were thrown by Jayalalithaa. At the peak of the situation, when Jayalalithaa was about to leave the house, which is seen by a section of the media as "not until I enter the house as a Chief Minister". Though some sections of media term it as a theatrics launched by Jayalalithaa, it got a lot of media coverage and sympathy from the public. During the 1989 general elections, the ADMK allied with the Congress party and had a significant victory. The ADMK, under her leadership, won the by-elections in Marungapuri, Madurai East and Peranamallur assembly constituencies.
In 1991, following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi days before the elections, her alliance with the Indian National Congress enabled her to ride the wave of sympathy that gave the coalition victory. The ADMK alliance with the Congress won 225 out of the 234 seats contested and won all 40 constituencies in the centre. Re-elected to the assembly, she became the first elected female chief minister and the youngest ever chief minister of Tamil Nadu, serving the full tenure from 24 June 1991 to 12 May 1996. In 1992, er government introduced the "Cradle Baby Scheme". At that time the ratio of male to female in some parts of Tamil Nadu was skewed by the practice of female infanticide and the abortion of female foetuses. The government established centres in some areas, these being equipped to receive and place into adoption unwanted female babies. The scheme was extended in 2011. Her party had 26 elected members to the assembly. Her government was the first to introduce police stations operated solely by women. She introduced 30 per cent quota for women in all police jobs and established as many as 57 all-women police stations. There were other all-women establishments like libraries, stores, banks and co-operative elections. |
( hari krishnamurthy K. HARIHARAN)"
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