It must in the year 1972 as I was getting back from school there was this little crowd gathered around some activity, curious I went and saw and it was Jayalalitha with all those make up dabbed on her face dancing under the Chetput bridge. It was some movie that was being shot. That was my first and the last close encounter. Then it was during those days when MGR died and there was a tussle between Janaki and Jayalalitha for supremacy over the party. The journalist, whom I happened to know well, recorded an interview of Jayalalitha in her recording device and gave it to me to decipher some tamil phrases she had used. I was mid way through the interview when my friend came and pulled out the cassette and rushed out. Later I hear that Jayalalitha had changed her mind about the interview and requested to withdraw the statements made in haste obviously.
I have heard many stories apart from this from many people but I dont want to go into it.
Now she is behind bars. A lady who worked her way up and got into the laps of luxury has to get back to her beginning. But what puzzles me is a lady who is so smart and confident why would she ever do some stupid thing like this ? Or is she being implicated and framed ? What beats me is her proximity to Sasikala. What is it that she saw in Sasikala ? I just can’t fathom it.
Surely I have tremendous respect for her ability to take on the DMK monolith single handedly and crush the party and ground it to paste.
Now lets step aside and understand the responsibility of a leader. A leader has to inspire, lead and carry the people forward. Amma has not done that. She had her ministers falling at her feet quite literally. She was tough taskmaster. She was abrasive. She took bold decisions. All these made even those close to her to fear her. Now that is not what a leader is made of. A leader certainly cannot be so closely aligned to a person like Sasikala and her clan.
Bottom line guilty of crimes or not. She surely is not a leader. But I still kind of like her. Thats the enigma of Jayalalitha.
Tilted Plus 