The last Thursday of 2016 turned out to be quite eventful for Tamil Nadu politics. As the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam hoped their “Amma” J. Jayalalithaa’s soul would guide her conscience-keeper Sasikala Natarajan in her new avatar as interim general secretary of the party, the Madras High Court cast doubts on the causes of the former Chief Minister’s death and asked “why her body cannot be exhumed”. This has once again proved that as in life, Jayalalithaa remains an enigma in death too. “Media has raised a lot of doubts; personally I also have doubts on Jayalalithaa’s death,” Justice S. Vaidyanathan said, while hearing a petition moved by a party worker asking for an investigation into the “mysterious death” of the party leader. The petitioner had listed the sequence of events since Jayalalithaa’s admission to Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, on 22 September and claimed that the “secrecy” preceding her death gave rise to “grave doubts” in the minds of the people. When state Advocate General Muthukumaraswamy contended that “there is no mystery in the death,” the judge said the public has a right to know what has happened. “I personally find in case if I have doubt I may order exhumation of the body of the deceased and you have not told anything when she was alive,” the judge said.
The AIADMK general council, which met in the morning to formally name Jayalalithaa’s long time companion V.K. Sasikala, now “Chinnamma” to party workers, as general secretary of the party, was quick to respond to the court observation. Saying the party has “nothing to hide”, spokesperson C.R. Saraswathy asked media persons: “Why would we tell lies for 75 days? Would a heart attack inform (anyone) before happening?” Echoing people’s sentiments, she said, “The judge must think about the feeling of the cadres. It has hurt us but we are ready to reply to this.”
Earlier in the day, the general council meeting in Vangaram, on the outskirts of the city, was attended by all the 2,770 members of the council including ministers, MLAs, district secretaries and local leaders. The meeting chaired by senior leader and minister E. Madhusudanan took only 10 minutes to complete the formality of appointing V.K. Sasikala as AIADMK general secretary. The 14-point resolution passed by the meeting said that “until the formal election process is completed, Sasikala will hold all powers that come with the post”. The resolution said that “it is important that we have to hand over the legacy of Jayalalithaa to someone who is talented, hard working and experienced. Sasikala has been with Jayalalithaa for 33 years and knows the party just like Amma.” Most likely she will be formally elected as general secretary at the executive meeting of the party scheduled to be held in the first week of January at the party headquarters, in Chennai. “Like we saw MGR (the late M.G. Ramachandran, founder of AIADMK) in Jayalalithaa, we see Jayalalithaa in Sasikala,” said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, before heading with a copy of the resolution to Vedanilayam in Poes Garden, the house that Jayalaltihaa shared with Sasikala for almost three decades and whose occupants now are “Chinnamma” and her clan from Mannargudi, her native village. There was no official confirmation of Sasikala’s reaction to the party decision, nor was she seen anywhere near the media. However, according to certain press reports, Sasikala broke down while accepting the party resolution. The same reports quoted senior leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai as telling Sasikala, “Be our guide and lead us on the way forward.” Before this meeting, rumour mills were abuzz that Thambidurai himself was a strong contender for the party leadership and Chief Minister’s post. All Panneerselvam would say was Sasikala has given her consent finally and would follow in Jayalalithaa’s footsteps. She is said to formally take charge possibly next week at an auspicious date.
It is now for the 60-year-old Sasikala, who herself is a bundle of mystery, to come forth and take up the responsibility which her “friend” had handled with aplomb for the past 27 years. It is interesting that Sasikala did not attend the general council meeting, nor were there any big cut-outs, a regular feature at Dravidian party meetings, of hers at the venue. Amma’s vacant chair, with a portrait of hers, was kept in the middle of the hall. All the posters and hoardings were of Puratchi Thalaivar MGR and the Puratchi Thalaivi. For the ordinary party cadre and very large Tamil population, they were revolutionary leaders who fought for the uplift of the downtrodden like themselves. But the question is where does a person like Sasikala fit in as a leader of the toiling masses which the party represents. She has no celluloid background, no proven instances of leadership, no charisma either. At least at the time of MGR’s death, the two contenders to his legacy, one his legal wife Janaki and the other his protégé Jayalalithaa, were stars in their own right, having acted in innumerable films along with Ramachandran himself. Compared to that, what are Sasikala’s credentials other than being a mere “shadow” of the imperial aura surrounding Jayalalithaa in her lifetime and perhaps even in death? There is no record of Sasikala addressing a political meeting or taking any politically important decision, especially during brief periods when Jayalalithaa was imprisoned for alleged misappropriation of wealth. She has not faced the media either. Even when Jayalalithaa threw her out of the Poes Garden house twice in 1991 and as late as 2011, she did not meet the press, nor even issue a statement explaining her side of the story. If she wanted she could have easily spilled the beans. At the time of death, Jayalalithaa was estimated to be worth over Rs 114 crore.
What is most intriguing about Sasikala is her deafening silence. She will have to come out of her shell soon, for the next court hearing on Amma’s death is slated for 9 January. For the AIADMK leadership, at least for the time being, Chinnamma seems to be the glue that would keep the party intact. If the leadership had elected someone else as general secretary, with Panneerselvam continuing as Chief Minister, it would have led to a three-pronged power centre within the party. As over 78 million Tamils usher in the New Year, they know that the stakes are quite high for both Sasikala and the ruling Dravidian party.