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We all know her as Amma (mother) or the Puratchi Thalaiva (the Revolutionary Leader). She is someone who recently bagged the first prize for being the most corrupt Chief Minister among all the others in India. May be that was only because there were ‘proofs’ against her, while other corrupt ones may have gone in hiding for now. Well, I am talking about our ‘beloved’ Jayalalithaa Jayaram, who is currently on a long ‘sponsored’ trip to the Parappana Agraha prison in Bengaluru.
She was recently proven guilty in a disproportionate assets case which lasted for over 18 years and was disqualified from holding the Chief Minister’s office on the 27th of September, 2014 on grounds of her being convicted. Jayalalithaa has been fined Rs 100 crore by the Special Court in Bengaluru for the case launched against her by Subramanian Swamy of the Bhartiya Janta Party, on 20th August, 1996 on the basis of a proper Income Tax report on her and all her accounts.
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Let’s now take a look at her political journey!
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Jayalalithaa joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIDMK) in 1982, before which she had a very successful career in the Tamil film industry. She soon became the General Secretary of the party and later a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984-1989, elected from the Tamil Nadu constituency. A strong practitioner of Regionalism, from ‘Vote bank’ to ‘Loot bank’, she knows it all.
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Once upon a time: The glorious past?
In the year 1992, her government introduced The Cradle Baby Scheme, where women (mothers) could anonymously hand over their babies to the established government centers, in order to prevent female feticide and infanticide. These centers also placed and received unwanted female babies for adoption. It was under Amma’s rule when police stations operated only by women were introduced. She also introduced a 30% quota for women in all police jobs and also encouraged them to come forward in their lives. Banks, stores and libraries were a few of the many established centers solely for women and were thought to give them a boost in life. The first ever company of the female police commandos was also set up in Tamil Nadu in the year 2003.
Status Quo- Coming back to reality!
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The wedding event of Jayalalithaa’s foster son Sudhakaran in the year 2005 came into limelight because of the grandeur associated with it and more than Rs. 6 crore being ‘officially’ spent on it. It is also addressed as the “mother of all weddings” till date. If that’s the case, then we should all know about Jayalalithaa being the mother of all.
And I thought Lilith was the mother of all! Wasn’t she?
The wedding holds two Guinness World Records: one being, for the maximum guests at the wedding and the other for the largest wedding banquet. Amma ne “India ka naam kiya Raushan”!
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In her defence in 2011, Amma stated that all the expense of the wedding was handled by the bride’s family. Makes me think of Jayalalithaa as ‘the’ new Lalit[h]aa Pawar of Bollywood!
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Judge John Michael D’Cunha who was appointed as a special judge in the hearing of the disproportionate assets case convicted Jayalalithaa for owning assets worth Rs. 66.65 Crores. This includes property which covers 2,000 acres of land, 30 kg of gold and 12,000 saris. To all the others out there, “Tumse naa hoga”! Only Amma can do this. Others who were fined Rs. 10 Crores each in the same case and sentenced to four years in jail were Sasikala Natrajan, Amma’s niece Ilavarasi, nephew and her foster son Sudhakaran.
The assets Jayalalithaa owns have no possible means of explanation using her ‘known’ sources of income, during the term she served from 1991-1996 into account. The world wants to know: Knowing the unknown.
Justice A.V. Chandrashekara of the Karnataka High Court denied Jayalalithaa’s bail plea and cited Supreme Court’s ruling that corruption is against human rights. Just like all of us, even the judge believes, that if one is found guilty of a crime then that person should be condemned. Well, the gates of the Supreme Court are still open for Amma, now that she isn’t feeling too well in the jail.
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Can we think of a change now?
Now that people have realised (only realised but are still ‘inactive’) how corruption makes the society hollow from within, we can only hope that ‘all’ the politicians who are charged with any kind of criminal cases are either given a “Bye-bye” salute or sent on long trips to prisons(Amma at least deserves some ‘good’ company). So much for them to discover! The facts say it all, one third of the ministers in Modi’s government have been charged with some crime or the other. We’re all waiting for action MODIMAN! Hope all the guilty are charged and punished soon. Where at one hand the supporters of Jayalalithaa called her arrest a political move, the rival parties celebrated it by calling her a corrupt figure. Guess, they have forgotten that they are from the same category. Reminder alert! Phew! How forgetful people are?
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The Lost cause:
There was a time when Jayalalithaa associated herself with women empowerment but by looking at the present scenario, one can no longer be sure of that. People have now started accusing her to use issues of women empowerment and equality, for her own political career. Where Amma has not only let her supporters down but the entire nation, her arrest has also raised very important questions which were crucial at this point of time. This being the time of change, a time which demands and requires mass movement for the country’s development. Well, there are many others to be added to this list just like Amma, since they do not lag far behind in this ‘rat race’.
The rest will be up in the next article. Till then let’s wait for what the Supreme Court has to say to her. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Jayalalithaa’s bail plea on Friday, 17th of August, 2014. Everybody is eagerly waiting for the final decision on her bail application.
*Fingers Crossed*
Will the MUMMY return this time?
