Tamil Nadu - the pressure of the South on New Delhi

As the power of the states is gaining more importance in Indian politics, and is steadily challenging the position of New Delhi as the hub of policy formulation, with new emphasis on the federal nature of the Indian State, last week we looked at the role of West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is bringing pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, as well as pushing the interests of West Bengal to the fore in the new politics of India.

It is significant that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her recent visit to India from West Bengal, and also that this visit saw some changes in Mamata Banerjee’s policies, especially in her bending towards the opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment from the USA in the retail sector, while she was strongly against such moves when earlier proposed by New Delhi. It is also clear that Mamata Banerjee is keen to ensure that New Delhi pays much more attention to the thinking in West Bengal on relations with Bangladesh, whether it is about illegal immigrants or the sharing of river waters.

The other major pull in Indian politics comes from the Southern state of Tamil Nadu, where the Chief Minister is Jayalalitha Jayaram, who moved into politics from the cinema, and has shown herself as one who is adept at playing very strong roles in politics, as she was in the Tamil cinema, in a political career that is marked by machinations and considerable allegations of corruption.

Popular film stars

Unlike Mamata Banerjee who is known for her simple lifestyle, seen especially in her clothes and where she lives, Jayalalitha is better known for extravagance in personal life, as well as in politics.

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is the leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

Born in February 1948, she is known to have been a good student, who gave up a promising educational career for the call of the cinema, under the guidance of her mother also a cinema star.

Her successes in cinema saw her winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1973, and three Filmfare Awards for Best Actress in Tamil and Telugu films. Her popularity on screen had a major influence in her move into politics, at a time when popular film stars such as MG Ramachandran (MGR) were already making waves in South Indian politics. MGR, who was Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 1977, is said to have introduced Jayalalitha to politics, a claim she very strongly denies. There is no doubt that she was heavily influenced by this Dravidian film star and political leader (who was born in Sri Lanka).

In 1982, she joined the AIADMK, founded by Ramachandran. She made her maiden public speech 'Pennin Perumai' (the Pride of Women) at the political conference of the AIADMK that year. In 1983, she became Propaganda Secretary for the party and was also 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, and was elected to the Indian Upper House in 1984. Success in her role as Propaganda Secretary of the AIADMK saw the beginnings of her rift with MGR, and the building of her own image within the party and the Tamil public.

It is reported that in 1984, when MGR was incapacitated with a stroke, Jayalalitha attempted to take over the office of Chief Minister, which move was thwarted, resulting in her removal from the position of deputy leader of the AIADMK. When MGR died in 1988, the AIADMK split into two factions, one section supporting his widow, Janaki Ramachandran, and the other supporting Jayalalitha, who claimed to be MGR’s political heir.

Playing a bigger role in politics than the cinema, in 1989 she was elected to the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, leading a faction of the AIADMK which won 27 seats, and saw her elected the first women Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

Youngest chief minister

Rajiv Gandhi

Hillary Clinton

M Karunanidhi

Mamata Banerjee

In 1991, following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi just days before the elections, her alliance with the Indian National Congress enabled her to ride the wave of sympathy that gave the coalition victory. 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 June 24, 1991 to May 12, 1996.

The AIADMK was soon reunited under Jayalalitha.

It is noteworthy that the wave of sympathy that brought Jayalalitha to the position of Chief Minister was that caused by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, by the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist and terrorist organization, and Jayalalitha was for sometime a strong critic of the LTTE and its separatist aims.

The Jayalalitha-led AIADMK lost power in the 1996 elections, when it won 4 of the 168 seats that they contested, with Jayalalitha herself defeated by the DMK candidate. The outcome has been attributed to an anti-incumbency sentiment, as well as several allegations of corruption and malfeasance against her and her ministers.

A highlight was criticism of a lavish wedding for her foster son, V. Sudhakaran.

The wedding event, in which Sudhakaran married a granddaughter of the Tamil film actor Shivaji Ganeshan, was held on September 7, 1995 at Chennai and was viewed on large screens by over 150,000 people. The event holds two Guinness World Records: one is for the most guests at a wedding and the other is for being the largest wedding banquet. Subsequently, in November 2011, Jayalalitha told a special court that the entire Rs. 6 crore expenses associated with the wedding were paid by the family of the bride.

Corruption and nepotism

The machinations of politics remained an aspect of Jayalalitha’s activity, with the rivalry between her and the DMK leader Karunanidhi, exposing the opportunism of the Tamil political leaders, Jayalalitha was barred from standing as a candidate in the 2001 elections because she had been found guilty of criminal offences, including allegedly obtaining property belonging to a state-operated agency called TANSI. Although she appealed to the Supreme Court, having being sentenced to five years' imprisonment, the matter had not been resolved at the time of the elections.

Despite this, the AIADMK won a majority and she was installed as Chief Minister as a non-elected member of the state assembly on May 14, 2001.

Her appointment was legally voided in September 2001 when the Supreme Court ruled that she could not hold it whilst convicted of criminal acts.

O. Paneerselvam, a minister in her party, was subsequently installed as the Chief Minister.

However, media and other reports at the time were strong on allegations that his government was purported to have been micro-managed by Jayalalitha.

Her main rival in politics was the DMK leader Karunanidhi who held sway as Chief Minister of Tail Nadu till 2011, who was himself tainted with considerable reports of corruption and nepotism. This was the time that saw Karunanidhi begin his more public support for the LTTE in Sri Lanka and sought to bring pressure on New Delhi to move against Sri Lanka on the issue of the rights of Sri Lanka Tamils. New Delhi was able to thwart these pressures, and was in fact supportive of Sri Lanka’s operations to defeat the LTTE, which took place on this day three years ago.

But April 2011 saw the AIADMK as part of a 13-party alliance win the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections again, and Jayalalitha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the third time on May 16, 2011.

The in-fighting and machinations continued within the AIADMK, with Jayalalitha expelling her long time close aide Sasikala Natarajan and 13 others from the AIADMK. The matter was resolved later when Natarajan was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology, about alleged conspiracy against Jayalalitha.

As Chief Minister today, Jayalalitha is pushing forward on a policy of appeasing extremist Tamil politics in South India, especially to overcome the challenge of the DMK and also because she sees in this a means of bringing increased pressure on New Delhi, which has exposed the weakness of its ruling coalition, of which the AIADKM is also a member. Jayalalitha today sees the opportunism of Tamil politics as a means of pushing New Delhi into giving more concessions to Tamil Nadu, and the possibility of being a more important player in Indian politics, with the new importance of the federal aspect of the Indian constitution emerging to shape policy in India, both in matters of internal policy and relations with her neighbours.

It is hardly a secret that Tamil Nadu the pressure played a role as important as that from the USA in New Delhi’s decision to vote against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC move in March this year; which was explained by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as ‘coalition compulsions’.

What are emerging are not only the compulsions of a coalition, but the compulsions of corruption and sectarian politics too, and the new moods of the states demanding more say in the policies of New Delhi.

It is a situation where the actress in Jayalalitha can play a very strong role given the growing weakness of the Congress Party and BJP, and the emergence of powerful sectarian parties with state-led agendas in many states of India.