Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa died here shortly before midnight on Monday after being in hospital for more than two months, plunging millions of her party cadres and followers into grief. She was 68.

Jayalalithaa, who was admitted to Apollo Hospital on September 22 for treatment of fever and dehydration, appeared to have recovered enough to be shifted from critical care to an independent room about a fortnight ago. On Sunday afternoon, however, she suffered a setback after a cardiac arrest and was back in intensive care.

Through Sunday night and Monday, social media platforms were swamped by rumours about her condition; in the evening, a few Tamil television channels even announced that she had passed away, only for the hospital to quickly issue a clarification that the Chief Minister was alive and on life support. Thereafter, her condition worsened and she passed away.

Announcing her death, a bulletin from Apollo Hospital said, “The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister died here today following an extended illness. She was 68.”

According to a press release from the Apollo Hospitals, where she was admitted due to fever and dehydration, she died at 11.30 pm. She suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening and was put on life support system. She succumbed despite intensive treatment.

The State Government has said Jayalalithaa’s body will lie in state at Rajaji Hall.

3rd CM to die in harness

Jayalalithaa, who led the AIADMK to a resounding victory in the May Assembly elections, is the third Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to die in harness; the other two were CN Annadurai, founder of the DMK, and MG Ramachandran, who was Jayalalithaa’s political mentor.

Thousands of her fans and followers gathered outside the hospital when they came to know of the announcement, women and men wailing and beating their breasts. Her party workers were famous for never even invoking her name; they would refer to her endearingly as Amma or with honorifics such as ‘Permanent Chief Minister’, ‘Golden maiden’ or ‘Revolutionary leader’.

Starts career in cinema

Born on February 24, 1948, in Mysuru, the convent-educated Jayalalithaa entered films at the age of 17, following in the footsteps of her mother Sandhya. She made her screen debut opposite MGR and was his heroine in nearly two dozen movies. She acted in about 140 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

Fluent in many languages, Jayalalithaa was most comfortable speaking in English, especially when it was extempore. Her English was flawless, and those who have interacted with her say she could be at her charming best when she wanted to.

It was this charm that was chiefly responsible for the second wave of manufacturing in Tamil Nadu, when Ford Motor Co was scouting for a site to set up a greenfield unit in alliance with Mahindra & Mahindra. The toss-up was between Nashik in Maharashtra, where M&M had a plant, and Maraimalai Nagar, on the southern outskirts of Chennai. After a delegation from Ford and M&M met her at the Secretariat, towards the fag end of her first tenure as Chief Minister, Ford chose Tamil Nadu over Maharashtra. Many automobile and component makers followed Ford into the State.

Controversial stint

Jayalalithaa, who was made Propaganda Secretary of the AIADMK by MGR, served as a Rajya Sabha member and took over the party after MGR’s death in 1987. She won a massive mandate in the 1991 Assembly elections, in alliance with the Congress (I). She started off well, but half-way through her term, she got mired in controversies, including corruption charges, the extra-constitutional power wielded by her close friend and confidante Sasikala, and the lavish wedding of her foster son, a nephew of Sasikala, to the granddaughter of thespian Sivaji Ganesan.

It was these corruption charges and cases that came back to haunt her during her subsequent terms as Chief Minister. Even now, an appeal against her acquittal by the Karnataka High Court in a disproportionate assets case is before the Supreme Court.

For her fans and followers she was simply “Amma”. Jayalalithaa launched a number of subsidised schemes under the Amma brand, targeted at the poor. It mattered little to her that it was a drain on the exchequer as it helped her reap rich political dividends, including a second consecutive electoral victory in 2016, in the process breaking a 32-year-long jinx. But just a couple of months into her term as Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa fell ill and a remarkable career was cut short.

Paying his tributes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Jayalalithaa ji’s connect with citizens, concern for welfare of the poor, the women & marginalized will always be a source of inspiration”.

Regime of freebies

For the legions of her fans, followers and admirers she was simply “Amma”, Tamil for ‘mother’. Jayalalithaa launched a number of free and subsidised schemes under the Amma brand, targeted mainly at the poor. It mattered little to her that it was a drain on the exchequer as it helped her reap rich political dividends, including a second consecutive electoral victory in 2016, in the process breaking a 32-year-long jinx. But just a couple of months into her fresh term as Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa fell ill and a remarkable career was cut short.

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