Justice the Jayalalitha way

Is it triumph or tragedy for India's most controversial and colourful politician?

movem ents, ranging from ridiculous to religious, ro demand her release.

BY ,. LP.AYER

Amma is the most pervas ive palindrome in Tamil Nad u

Unless you are totally blind, there is no way of miss ing that wo rd and i ts owner, moon- faced m atronlylooking Jaya lalitha, plasteted on every wall in the poster- poUuted provincial capital, Cbennai With the populace of chis state neatly divided into two political camps, any excuse is good enough to start wall- towaU coverage glor ifying their l eaders. So i t i s ouly normal to expect Chief l'Vlinister Jayalalitba's achievements ro be public ised in l arger than l ife format on eve r y street corner.

But w hen I arrived in Chen nai ear ly October, the texts had a twist. I saw a variety of posters wi th a single message - demanding her release from prison.

Jaya lalitha was convicted on 27 September in a Bengaluru special court on charges of accumulating assets worth Rs66.5 crore, disproportionate to her earnings and en ti tlements.

That sum works out at one crore and a bit for every year of age for this 66- year- o ld former movie star. She was sentenced to four yea rs imprisonment and given a Rs1 00cr fine. T h is judgemen t cam e 18 years after the case was filed thanks co her legal team successfuUy seeking so man y ad journments

Amma applied for bail to appeal against the judgment, but the Dussebra holidays delayed the hearing So her loyal party men conceived vario u s ptotest

First the posters accused the judge of getting even with Amma because of her successful fight against Karnataka over the Kaveri water iss ue. Some of them even had an u ndertone of threat

This did not cut the mustard witl1 the judiciary and drew some cond emnation Some of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, being lawyers, should have known better In their eagerness to exhib it tl1eir loyal ty t o Amrna, the party's big-wigs vied with each other ro organise b igger and more bizarre protest marches, man y of them with religio u s overtones.

To mention a few, special 'p1gas' were held at rnany temples praying for the bail heai:ing to be speeded up. These prayers may have prevailed upo n the divine Lord, but not the special court lo rd. Next they sta rted holding hava11s at famous temp les in large cities attended by hundreds. Trying to send some smoke s.ignal?

Not to be outdone b y temple throngs, some churches and mosques held mass prayers. Crossing the caste barriers?

For women supporters, tl1eir l oyalty for Amma went to their heads, li terally. Some 3000 women took ouc a procession carrying pal kI1da111 (pots of milk) to offer to a l ocal temple in Madurai

Women 's support for Jayalalitha comes not only out of gender affinity, but also due to a number o f freebies offered to tl1em on her birthdays - saris, grinders, maternity packs containing goodies for newborns and much more.

Bm men too went head over heels in their support. Thousa n ds of them had their heads shaved in a mass tonsure event. Some men pierced their cheeks and tongues with thin sh arp metal lancets as they do at the 'Thai Poosam' festival. Some i\fLAs u n dertook four- hour fasting - not eating between lunch and dinner!

Every event was given extensive coverage on Jaya TV (Amma's own) to the excl u sion of any othet news. O n the otber band, it was cotal sunset on the Oppos ition's Sun TV

The star attraction for tl1e former movie queen was due co her new ve n tures like Amma Cafe where a p late of idli (typical Tamilian breakfast) i s sold for five rupees as opposed to Rs60 in an y res taurant; while Am.ma Salt and Amma Nlineral \Xfater are among other low- price offetings

And to cement her place in public esteem, the latest ventu re is Amma Cement offering a few

Hol\) CA~ Sl-\i PAY Rs.100 CRoRE 9

hundred bags at half tl1e standard price to encourage t he poorer sections of the community ro build a house.

At lase when the bail application was being heard, one reporter p r ematurely announced it had been successful On hearing th is, women well past tl1eit fi fries danced in the streets a l a Bollywood and l oads of laddoos were dished om But when the offic ial ann oun cement of bail refusal came a few minutes later, the dancing women felt so desolate tl1ey started rolling on tl1e roads beating their chests. A few days later the issue was taken to the Supreme Court which alJowecl bail albeit with some stiff co ndi tions. Minutes later, loads of Jaddoo trays reappeared fo llowed by deafening firecrackers A U those prayers seemed to have been answered But not for the 1 73 peop le who lost their lives Amidst all tl1ose frivolities there was a very sad chapter i u this saga of w cophancy

Grieving over Anuna's arrest, 7 5 people comm itted suicide, 17 of them set tliem selves abl aze, a n d some poisoned themselves or jumped in front of heavy vehicles Others we re reported to have died of heart attacks, shocked by the sentence Coming om on bail , Amma ann ounced a reli ef amou nt of R s3 lakhs for eve ry victim's famil y None of them belonged to tl1e coterie of ministers, MLAs or their family members. Commo n folks consumed by passion for their Jeadet. Is it realJy wortb it.?