Selvi J Jayalalitha (Name by birth - Komalavalli) has sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the 3rd time. Let us delve a little bit into her past. An actor turned politician, she is the only actress in Tamil Cinema industry with more than 90% box office success rate. She rendered her voice to ten songs in various films, singing along with pros like SPB, TMS and so on. After being known as the political heir of M.G. Ramachandran, she was thrown off to the back seat in 1989 elections by her party members. But with her audacious attitude towards life, she rose to peak and captured the Fort in 1991 (with some assistance gained from Rajiv Gandhi's assassination). Jayalalitha is the first woman to become the Leader of Opposition in Democratic India. Infact, she is the youngest person to become Chief Minister of a state.
As it is common for any ordinary human being, once she smelled the dope of power, her audacity is transformed into ruthless temerity. Just like any other politician, she used her first tenure of Chief Minister for the welfare of her kith and kin. As a result, double digit number of cases were filed against her name with charges for corruption, asset misappropriation etc. by her successor, M Karunanidhi, whose tenure is full of vacillations.
Whenever the People of Tamil Nadu needed a change, they will choose one among these two options - DMK or AIADMK, Greater evil or Lesser evil, family looters or solitary looter. As per the political sine wave, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister in 2006. But the notable change in DMK line-up during this particular tenure is the expiry of Murasoli Maran who was claimed to be the judge of Karunanidhi’s moral actions. After Maran's death, Karunanidhi sowed seeds for some of the irrefutable mistakes in his career. He lent the party principles for the welfare of his family. His attitude towards the Central government for getting Cabinet ministership for Azhagiri and Kanimozhi is widely condemned. Despite his strong media image as an icon of Tamil people, Indian media compared him to the image of a third-rate haggler.
A scholar like Karunanidhi should have been more careful in this regard. He miscalculated the power of people and played a blind game. He thought that the insolence displayed by his son Azhagiri will go unnoticed. He misunderstood the people of Tamil Nadu to be complacent with their political approach. He thought that the three salary hikes and loads of freebies offered by his government will blind fold the people from seeing his mistakes. His arrogance reached the peak when he threatened the ruling UPA Government for letting political novices like Kanimozhi and Dayanidhi Maran to get Cabinet seat. His unforgivable sin is that he supported A. Raja (now known as Spectrum Raja), when the whole world is accustomed with his multimillion dollar scam. It is at this time, people realized the double standards of their Chief Minister. Such incidents favored Jayalalitha in a huge way.
Most intriguing question of the moment will be this - What made the humongous DMK to fell like a deck of cards? What made the DMK to diminish as the third party in Legislative Assembly next to DMDK?
Karunanidhi chose his pack of cards with utmost scrutiny. But he built them on a corruptible base which made their own collapse. It is not the Jayalalitha's action which brought down DMK; it is her inaction which brought DMK to this ultimate demise. Infact, Jayalalitha did nothing in these 5 years to preach DMK a lesson. She spent most of these days in Koda nadu, a summer vacation spot. Even she never issued a statement against the perennial power cuts seen by our state. By keeping silent, she gave Karunanidhi the very rights to do anything he wishes. His heirs started three film production houses which monopolized the Tamil Cinema industry. His media arms tried to overshadow such atrocities and they portrayed Tamil Nadu as a heaven of all wonders. Frankly, Karunanidhi is the most powerful politician in Indian History. He can determine what the people should know, what they should not know. He got the largest Television channel network in South India; he got the largest newspaper network; his family forayed in diverse sectors of business with huge money power. But, the people know their demagogue’s naked face. The Power of People will dethrone any other sort of power. In history, they always knew. Not a single ruler who tried to ‘use’ his own men has ever survived! History repeated itself and Karunanidhi's actions dig his own grave. DMK, once renowned as the first Non-Congress party in India to rule a state has been made to renounce the Government and reduced to ashes. This will be the first time in the past 40 years, a third party (DMDK) will lead the opposition party in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
The rise of Tamil People against corruption, nepotism and monopoly will have tremendous effect on Jayalalitha. She will understand that these people are not as boorish as the politicians think. She will realise that if she fails to give these people the life they deserved, then they will send her to the same place as that of her predecessor. The greatest victory gained by our people is that they made the politicians to 'think'. If 78 out of 100 people caused such a huge paradigm shift, then 100 out of 100 people can bring more. Our politicians think themselves as our rulers, not as our representatives. This election will poke their grey matter to remind themselves of their duty. It is time for these politicians to resume their jobs as our representatives.
