Chennai: The day after the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa were buried, a large number of people, mainly from the remote areas of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu were queuing up with tears and tonsured head to have a glimpse of the tomb. A TV channel reporter thrust his microphone before a woman and asked whether Sasikala Natarajan could be the successor of Jayalalithaa. Pat came the reply, “Illa Illaii... (Never, Never)”.
That is the mood of the majority of the common folk in Tamil Nadu. Sasikala Natarajan, who for more than three decades remained the closest associate of the late chief minister, accompanying her during all her travels, meetings and campaigns, was a familiar face and name. Her face was benign and she never opened her mouth in public but remained a shadow of Jayalalithaa. In temples, they worshipped together offering identical garlands. The photograph, in which both of them were seen together wearing an obscenely large quantity of gold and diamond jewellery, became an evidence in the disproportionate assets case and a campaign poster against Jayalalithaa during the 1996 elections, which she lost.
People and the cadre of the party loved Jayalalithaa, but seemed cold to Sasikala. People credited Jayalalithaa with all the good schemes while her failures were attributed to Sasikala. Corruption allegations spiked during the first tenure of Jayalalithaa between 1991 and 1996. There were charges of land grab and extortion. Any dissent was violently dealt with. Even the former chief election commissioner TN Seshan had to hide in a hotel room to escape from an attack. No one, not even former Union ministers P Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Subramanian Swamy were spared. A senior lawyer was brutally attacked after he opposed the reservation policy of the government.
But why did Jayalalithaa, who is credited with a sharp intellect, allow Sasikala Natarajan to have such a strong influence on her? Nobody has an answer. Sasikala, whose husband was an ordinary government official (an assistant information officer of the government), has been living in Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence for more than 30 years — separated from her husband who was never allowed inside the house. Slowly, Sasikala brought in all her relatives who have by now become a dominant and powerful clique, often called by the south Indian press as the 'Mannargudi Mafia'. In fact, Jayalalithaa adopted Sasikala’s kin Sudakaran, whose marriage she celebrated very ostentatiously spending crores and crores. Though she later disowned her foster son, the damage was already done. She lost the elections that followed and the huge expenditure incurred was cited by the prosecution against her in the trial court.
In recent years, Jayalalithaa banished all of them and never allowed them back. After her death, all of them were back, including Sasikala’s husband Natarajan, and were prominently seen in the gun carriage with her body during the funeral.
Even while Jayalalithaa was alive, people believed that the real power centre in the party was Sasikala. Aspiring contestants lined up to meet Sasikala to get the party ticket to contest. Jayalalithaa in her previous five-year term had reshuffled her Cabinet 24 times — a record of sorts. Any minister who dared displease Sasikala was dropped without assigning any reason. Sasikala and Jayalalithaa were also allegedly partners in several business ventures.
Party leaders believe the death of Jayalalithaa has not changed anything. It is expected that she would contest the by-election from where Jayalalithaa was elected. She now looks set to become the general secretary of the party, the position Jayalalithaa was holding till her death. Already posters have started appearing in different parts of the state supporting this move. Her supporters say that she stood by her leader during all the trials and turbulence, and was in jail along with her. She was also advising Jayalalithaa and even handling party affairs. No one could meet Jayalalithaa without her approval. Top officials and police took orders from her and tried to please her to get lucrative postings and transfers.
Even now Cabinet ministers and top officials are lining up to meet and discuss state and party affairs with her at the Poes Garden residence where she continues to live. The Chief Minister, O Panneerselvam, has never been assertive and he needs the support of Sasikala to continue in office. He belongs to the Thevar community to which Sasikala belongs, and there are some who say that the general secretary of the party should be from a different community.
Both the Congress and the BJP having negligible mass base in the state, are watching. It will suit BJP to have a pliable Sasikala at the helm of the party which has 50 MPS in Parliament.
With the disproportionate assets case, in which Sasikala was also given a prison sentence, still pending in the Supreme Court Sasikala would only be willing to oblige. Already, raids have taken place in the houses of big businessmen considered close to the AIADMK — reminding her of what might be in store.
(Sampath Kumar teaches at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. The views expressed by the author are his own and not necessarily that of Network18)
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