The Hindu Business Line : Of a leader and a hero

Ms Jayalalithaa deciding to take on the mantle of leading the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and Aamir Khan refusing to recede from his position even as his new release is threatened in Gujarat brought out the leader and the hero.

Last week saw the emergence of two very different kinds of heroes, with only their backgrounds being common — the film industry. The first, actor Aamir Khan, the Bollywood icon, and the second, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, who once reigned the Tamil filmdom and made it equally good in politics.

Taking the second first: On May 27, Ms Jayalalithaa stepped into the Tamil Nadu Assembly in the capacity of a mere MLA. In one of the dramatic gestures that have become the hallmark of her politics, she proclaimed that since 60 of AIADMK MLAs were suspended from the House on May 26, the onus had fallen on her to put forth her party's views in the debate on the Governor's address. This she did effectively, taking on the DMK Government on various issues, including the distribution of land to small and marginal farmers, writing off their loans, and so on.

Later, of course, she was elected the leader of the AIADMK Legislative party and she will now be the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly; this position she had spurned immediately after the election results were declared and her party was defeated.

Hyperbole elsewhere

In other States it may sound like hyperbole to call a political leader a "hero" for doing exactly what the voters elected him/her to do — represent them in the Assembly and raise issues on their behalf. But Tamil Nadu politics is so different that often it leaves people from other parts of India — particularly the North — puzzled about all the fuss made over politicians here. For instance, the two people in Tamil Nadu politics who really matter — the DMK chief, Mr M. Karunanidhi, and Ms Jayalalithaa — have made it a convention of not attending the Assembly in a capacity less than that of the chief minister. Thus, in 1991, when the sympathy wave after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi swept away the DMK, which managed to return only one member, Mr Karunanidhi, who promptly resigned his seat.

When the pendulum made its habitual swing back, and power came to DMK hands in 1996, Ms Jayalalithaa would most certainly have followed Mr Karunanidhi's example of just signing the Assembly register at the mandated intervals. But she lost the election from both Kangeyam and Bargur constituencies. Again in 2001, when the AIADMK returned to power, Mr Karunanidhi refused to attend Assembly sessions as a mere MLA.

This "convention" Ms Jayalalithaa has broken to come to the Assembly and sit in the Opposition benches, after 17 years. In 1989, when the AIADMK split, her group was recognized as the main Opposition party, but following the incidents in the Assembly, she had vowed to return to the Assembly only after winning an election, which she did.

The problem with Tamil Nadu politics seems to be the acrimony between the two main Kazhagams. Even on May 27, when Ms Jayalalithaa attended the Assembly session, we're told the two leaders did not even exchange pleasantries. This does not happen between a Lalu Prasad or a Nitish Kumar, or a Manohar Joshi and Sharad Pawar/Vilasrao Deshmukh. In UP or Bihar, the general lax law and order situation and the criminalisation of politics makes people shrug off violence in the legislature, but in Tamil Nadu, somehow, one expects a difference.

And so larger than life are the leaders for their cadres that members of each party deem it their duty to take on those of the others. Thus, we had Mr Karunanidhi complaining of an AIADMK MLA moving "menacingly" towards him in the Assembly on May 26, before all MLAs of the party were suspended.

Anyway, with the suspension on the 60 AIADMK MLAs revoked, and with Ms Jayalalithaa attending the Assembly, the rest of the session is bound to be lively and stormy. Also, Ms Jayalalithaa attending the Assembly will hearten those who voted for the AIADMK that their mandate has been taken more seriously this time around; perhaps it signals her maturing as a politician who can take defeat and victory in her stride.

A defiant hero

Coming to Aamir Khan, it was gratifying to see that he stood his ground and refused to buckle to the BJP's blackmail that unless he apologised for his views on the Narmada issue, it will not allow his latest film, Fanna, to be screened in Gujarat. The actor has said that he had nothing against the raising of the Narmada dam height but had only raised his voice for the affected poor farmers and demanded that they should be rehabilitated.

Refusing to bite media baits, he has made it clear that he has nothing against the people of Gujarat and is certain that he will continue to have fans in the State and that it is only the BJP that is targeting him.

As if to confirm this, the electronic media aired footages of diehard Gujarati fans of Aamir arriving in Mumbai from Ahmedabad and Vadodara to see Fanaa. Yet, the blockade against Aamir Khan has intensified in Gujarat and there is apparently a move to boycott the products he endorses — watches, soft-drinks and vehicles; a section of the Gujarati media is not even using these advertisements. Yet, Aamir Khan remained firm, stating: "The BJP is much more powerful than I am, but I will not apologise because I have said nothing wrong and have taken up only the cause of the poor farmers."

Fortunately, after an initial period of tongue-tied hesitation, more voices from Bollywood have spoken up against the "democratic right" of an actor to voice his views.

But not before Aamir Khan had made a point that in showbiz the bottomline is not always a big collection, and in rare cases actors like him get an opportunity to become a real life hero.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in