Mother in the Marketplace

When the adversities of fate befall Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, people get cardiac arrests, chop off their tongues, jump from tall buildings and burn themselves. When she was sentenced to jail last year over a disproportionate assets case, 193 were said to have committed suicide. Even good occasions incite gory responses. Earlier this year, one man who had constructed a bust of the leader and drawn several portraits of her from his blood, nailed himself on to a cross as a birthday gift.

Usually in India, politicians achieve popularity; in Tamil Nadu, they get cult worship. But the cult also starts waning with every succeeding year in power. Jayalalithaa however, is bucking that trend and by a relentless series of gifts to her voters. When she came into power in 2011, for instance, the list of freebies she doled out ranged from neonatal kits for mothers to laptops, cows, goats, saris, bicycles and even food processors.

Every Indian state offers welfare schemes for the poor, but what Jayalalithaa did was integrate these with her personality. The Tamil Nadu government gives its citizens a wide variety of subsidised products which only have one thing in common—they are all branded ‘Amma’, which, not so coincidentally, is how she is referred to by her party and followers. And just to emphasise the point, her photo also accompanies the brand name. There are now Amma Canteens and Amma Pharmacies, apart from Amma Bottled Water, Amma Cement, Amma Salt, and, just this week, Amma Baby Care—each provided at a fraction of the usual market price. According to some reports, these subsidies constitute more than 37 per cent of the state’s revenue spending.

By attaching herself so intrinsically to every welfare programme or grant, she has come to personify the state itself. As though she were the ‘amma’ (mother) of every Tamilian, showering her children with essential gifts. As the posters that went up when she was arrested last year indicated, Jayalalithaa is now the ‘Giver’, ‘Golden Star’, ‘Revolutionary Leader’ and the ‘Goddess of Hearts’.

This week came the announcement that Amma Salt, one of her signature branded products, will now go national, and with it the subsidised footprint of Jayalalithaa is also set to cross the borders of Tamil Nadu. She is, according to the state government’s policy note for the year 2015-16, set to launch Amma Salt in the markets of Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh shortly.

The Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation (TNSC) has so far launched four varieties of Amma Salt—refined free-flow iodised salt, double fortified salt, low sodium salt and crystal iodised salt—all at dirt cheap prices. Crystal iodised salt is sold at Rs 3.50 per kg, the cheapest anywhere in India. According to the policy note, Amma Salt, to be distributed to the rest of India in packs of 5 kg and 25 kg, will primarily be sold in bulk to users like hospitals, hotels and hostels. It has been revealed that up until 29 August 2015, around 6,760 metric tonnes of Amma Salt have been sold in Tamil Nadu. This response, according to the TNSC, is the reason for the distribution effort in other parts of the country.

And why wouldn’t it get such an overwhelming response? One of the reasons Amma products find resonance is that, though cheap, their quality is decent. All you need after that is good old marketing. She is probably not looking for votes beyond Tamil Nadu with Amma Salt, but brand building is always a good thing, especially with legal cases that also need to be battled in the court of public opinion.

Amma SaltbrandCrystal iodised saltJayalalithaaTamil NaduTamil Nadu Salt Corporation