Amma sets new records

The lone ranger has won yet again. A 93-year-old general had led the main rival force along with his son, hailed by his followers as thalapathi (commander), criss-crossing the state with promises that were hefty and incredible. A former Union minister was taking a shot, promising to clean up the mess created by the two Dravidian majors in the past five decades. And a khichdi of six parties led by a former Kollywood hero had also jumped into the fray. Jayalalithaa Jayaram, 68, is not new to setting records. But this one must truly be the sweetest of them all.

When she first won the AIADMK throne despite a stiff fight from mentor MGR’s wife Janaki, party stalwarts had hailed her as Niranthara Muthalvar (CM for ever). Later she won the sobriquet as Tamil Nadu’s version of the Iron Butterfly by the manner in which she took on adversaries — be it the Karunanidhis, Stalins or Vijayakanths at home or even the powers-that-be at the Centre. No one was spared. The truth is that this kind of firmness, whatever be the consequences, has constantly endeared her to the common man and woman in Tamil Nadu — be it the urban educated upper or middle class or the rural poor.

The poor never cared that she was an Iyengar Brahmin on this Dravidian turf nurtured by so-called Periyarism (named after Periyar, founder of the rationalist Dravida Kazhagam and father of the Dravidian movement), they loved her, and the results of the May 2016 election showed that they still do. This victory was the sweetest on many counts. The “experts” had scoffed at her “arrogance” when she chose to go it alone in all 234 constituencies in the state.

Tamil Maanila Congress chief G.K. Vasan, who was shipping minister in the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre, had reportedly waited long for her alliance call but retreated when she laid out her key condition — that his Tamil Maanila Congress could only contest under the AIADMK’s “two-leaves” symbol. He felt unable to walk out of the “thennan thoppu” (coconut grove), the newly-acquired symbol of his truncated party, and ended up in the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA), despite facing the humiliation of having to accept DMDK hero Vijayakanth as his CM candidate.

A few other politicians were also made to line up for the “two-leaves” tickets, and they did that happily, confident they would win with her endorsement. That has been the magic of Jayalalithaa. When reporters would ask voters, particularly in rural areas, whom they would vote for, the immediate answer would be: “Two-leaves”. When asked why, they would say: “Amma has taken care of us in every way. There is not one need in our family that she has not addressed.”

The reason is not hard to find. It would be difficult for anyone with some intelligence and basic skills to go hungry in Tamil Nadu. In the Amma Canteens she has set up all over the state, an idli costs just Rs 1, variety rice Rs 5, sambar/curd rice Rs 3 and two chappatis at night Rs 3, so one could have one’s fill for just Rs 15, or even less. “This is the best socialist measure in the state to eradicate hunger and poverty”, says Dr Bernard D’Samy, a Chennai-based social scientist.

Besides the canteens, the past five years have seen several Amma welfare schemes unfold — baby kits, sanitary napkins, cycles, books, uniforms and other school needs for children; laptops for high school kids; gold for mangalsutra; water bottles and cans at bus stations and other public places; medicines, salt, cement, seeds, and so on. The people obviously believed she would deliver, even on the issue of prohibition, that had been on the front pages since the death of anti-liquor campaigner Sasi Perumal in July last year.

All political parties promised to banish liquor from the state, but when DMK chief Karunanidhi announced this would be the first file he would sign on becoming CM, campaigners even on non-AIADMK platforms ridiculed him, recalling it was he who as CM brought in liquor to the state. Jayalalithaa, on the other hand, did not make any wild promises. Despite facing opposition and protests by social groups against her government’s TASMAC liquor shops, that earn the state Rs 26,000 crores a year and substantially fund her Amma schemes, she said if voted back to power she would bring in prohibition “in phases”.

It is clear that few others really mattered in this election. Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK won 134 seats and the DMK and its allies got 98, out of the 232 seats that went to the polls. (Voting in two seats, Thanjavur and Aravakurichi, were postponed to May 23 due to alleged distribution of money.) Arch-rival Karunanidhi, 93, has sung his swan song several times, only to return to file his nomination yet again, but this could be the final blow for the man who holds the distinction of winning every election he has fought since the first Assembly win in 1957.