PAYBACK TIME

The comeback queen of Tamil Nadu reaches a dead end

On the morning of 27 September, a Saturday, a steady stream of AIADMK supporters flooded Avvai Shanmugam street, the site of the party’s headquarters, and Poes Garden, their leader Jayalalithaa’s home. They came bearing sweets and crackers, hoping ‘Amma’ might be acquitted in the ongoing disproportionate assets case. But as news to the contrary trickled in, this same jubilantly expectant crowd turned rough. Widespread public rage paralysed the state for hours as mobs went on the rampage with shows of bus-burning, stone-pelting and self-immolation, as AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa made Indian political history by becoming the first ruling Chief Minister to be convicted of corruption charges.

There is, so far, no official confirmation about the numbers dead following Amma’s conviction, but six suicides (and about as many unsuccessful attempts) have been reported across the state of Tamil Nadu. Party activist N Babu hanged himself in Kanchi Puram, while 48-year-old Nallayiram threw himself in front of a speeding bus at a protest march near Tirunelveli; a 70-year old sympathiser in Singampunari near Theni took poison; and two teenage girls reportedly attempted to set themselves on fire. The press was also informed about deaths by cardiac failure of AIADMK’s party workers, office bearers and sympathisers—and more such incidents are expected. The emotional response of the people has put the rival DMK party on the back-foot, preventing it from making any statements that may provoke the wrath of the disillusioned public.

The case goes back to Jayalalithaa’s tenure as CM spanning the period between July 1991 and April 1996. A vigilance probe ordered by the DMK government in 1997 discovered that Jayalalithaa and her team—N Sasikala, her sister’s son VN Sudhakaran, and Sasikala’s brother’s wife J Elavarasi—had accumulated Rs 65.86 crore worth of assets disproportionate to any known sources of income. Ironically, Jayalalithaa who had amassed the booty in a span of five years, had been drawing only one rupee as a month’s salary as CM. The charges also stated that she had not filed any tax returns during this period.

The 15-year-long legal battle over disproportionate assets—known as the ‘DA case’ for short—is a narrative of money-laundering through land grabs, intimidation, blackmail and deception. The chargesheet speaks volumes about the muscle-flexing and abuse of power by Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi on behalf of their leader. The court proceedings involved the questioning of 259 prosecution witnesses and 99 defence witnesses, while 2,600 documents of evidence were examined for this landmark case. But over the years, the country witnessed embarrassing attempts to sabotage the case at different stages. Public prosecutors in charge were changed many times over as the trial shifted to Karnataka from her home state in 2003 at the request of K Anbazhagan, then general secretary of the DMK. He alleged that a fair trial would not be possible in Tamil Nadu where the accused held power.

In 2011—a later stint of Jayalalithaa’s rule—the then Chief Secretary directed Mr Sambandam, the then Deputy Superintendent of Police of Vigilance and Anti- Corruption to do a further investigation. The request to reinvestigate allegations, bypassing the Public Prosecutor’s authority, was an arrogant snub to the trial court, which does not allow investigations of a matter already under trial. Not surprisingly, the missive was dismissed by the court. Embarassingly, the same police officer also appeared as a defence witness at court—something unprecedented in criminal law.

Among the 259 prosecution witnesses, a good number spoke of being intimidated and forced to sell their land to Jayalalithaa’s aides and associates Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi. The scope for negotiation was limited as they were forced to sign sale deeds at prices fixed by the rogue three-member team. Tamil music director, lyricist and filmmaker Gangai Amaran—the brother of maestro composer Ilayaraja—was among those blackmailed.

Amaran gave a chilling account of his powerlessness at being bullied by Jayalalithaa’s aides. He disclosed how 22 acres of land that he owned in Paiyanur village, Chenkalpet, was grabbed from him. According to court records, he was also told to join the politically- affiliated television channel, Jaya TV, by V Bhaskaran, one of Sasikala’s nephews. He was threatened over the phone by the CM’s wing for daring to join another channel, Eagle TV, instead. He was then invited to meet Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden home, where he was manhandled by Sasikala, who demanded he sell his 22 acre-property—valued at ‘Rs 1.5 crore’—for a measly Rs 13.1 lakh, with a promise that the balance would ‘be taken care of later’, an assurance given by co-conspirator VN Sudhakaran.

By 1991, Jayalalithaa, who purportedly ran only three enterprising firms— Jaya Publications, Sasi Enterprises and Namadhu MGR—and earned almost nothing officially, had become the owner of 32 companies, that existed only on paper and reported no profits, in addition to acres of land across the state.

The AIADMK is a party that has little internal democracy and no second-level leadership, with Jayalalithaa as its unquestionable leader. In contrast, the DMK opposition is a divided house and too weak to fight an election at the moment. TKS Elangovan, its organising secretary, has had just this to say: “They (AIADMK) have the mandate, let another Chief Minister come and take over.”

Over at the Gopalpuram residence of DMK leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the gathered party workers are clueless about how to celebrate Jayalalithaa’s come uppance—whether to burst crackers or distribute laddoos—having received no directions from the leaders inside.

This judgment may be the beginning of the end of the era of Jayalalithaa, who must stay out of electoral frays for 10 years—of which four years will be spent in jail and the other six under a statutory bar from contesting polls.

It is unlikely that she will be eligible to contest the next General Election, but her ability for backseat governance while in jail is well known. After all, who can forget the time in 2001 that she ably ran a government, after being convicted by a trial court, via her trusted lieutenant O Panneerselvam, Amma’s obedient Chief Minister?

AIADMKJ JayalalithaaprisonTamil Nadu